The Golden Retriever
by HaveBookWillTravel
Summary: Orville Doyle was perfectly happy running the most successful Dust smuggling operation in the Four Kingdoms, free to do as he pleased. He's less than pleased when his pal Roman somehow ropes him into enrolling at Beacon in order to obtain information for his new boss. Between the rambunctious students and the crazy criminals he now has to work with, Orville fears for his sanity.
1. The Wanderer

**Author's Note:** Well, alright. First off, I'd like to say hello. I'm as new to this fandom as this year is, i.e. roughly two weeks in. A reviewer of mine got me interested in RWBY a few months back, but I've only just recently broke down and decided to watch it. Then I broke down further and delved deep into the amazing archives of fanfic on this website. I'm probably going to be checking out AO3 soon enough, but for now I'm still working my way through the FFN stuff.

Anyway, as usually happens when I get into a new fandom, my muse automatically began coming up with ideas, the traitorous fucker. I originally planned a Bleach/RWBY crossover, since there aren't too many of those around, but I ended up going OC route. Wait, don't go yet!

This won't just be a team of OFC dicking about in canon. It's actually a single OC, one Orville Doyle, wading through an alternate universe based on several different fanfics I've read so far in which Jaune Arc is actually a super-cool badass Hunter already (for reasons I'll eventually get to).

I'd initially thought about breaking this chapter up into a few smaller ones, starting with a "Trailer" chapter, but it flows fairly well as is. So...enjoy!

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in this work of fiction. Not even the letters it's composed of.

 **Warnings:** Adult languages and situations, controlled substance use/abuse (alcohol, primarily), fair bit of blood and gore, and spoilers up to Season 3, Chapter 8. You have been warned.

* * *

Chapter 1: The Wanderer

* * *

The group of survivors was done for; Maybelline felt that truth deep in her bones even as her mind tried to distract her from the harsh reality. Her village, Viridian Outpost, had been overrun by that ranging pack of Beowolves the Hunters had supposedly demolished the month prior, and it had only been thanks to the timely arrival of a young Faunus that any of them were still alive, three weeks after the fact.

Well, May _said_ young, but when one's mortal coil stretched past eighty, almost _everyone_ became a youngster. Still, the poor thing couldn't have been out of his teen years yet he had skills that most of the grown adults that remained couldn't hope to. When the villagers had met him, he'd introduced himself as Orville Doyle with a grin, three braces of rabbits, and a sack of wild veggies and fruits.

His long, shaggy hair (mostly black as coal, but there were splashes and streaks of spun gold) looked like it hadn't seen a pair of scissors in years, held up in a low ponytail by a shimmering yellow elastic band, leaving loose bangs to fall into his face. His gear (a hooded black sweater left open over a yellow-and-black plaid flannel shirt, jeans so faded they were gray, and well-worn traveling boots) wasn't what May normally saw on journeyman Hunters, and he really should invest in a needle, some thread, and a sewing class, but the scruffy look oddly suited the young man. His utility belt and the two butterfly swords strapped across his back lent some dignity and professionalism to the outfit, though, and those toasty-brown eyes were ever-alert and watchful, constantly on the look-out for danger that had yet to present itself.

Apparently, Orville had lived outside the Kingdoms sporadically for nearly a decade, moving between Vale and Vacuo all that time, entering Mistral and Atlas once each to "sight-see" in the boy's own words. He didn't say much about his family, and hadn't said much about anything for the first few days before May's youngest granddaughter had decided she wanted to pet those darling little dog ears poking up past his hair and shattered the barrier between them.

Despite being in his late adolescence, though, Orville had impressed all the villagers those first frantic few days when he handled the creatures of Grimm who had pursued them from their ruined homes with moves a fully-fledged Hunter would have been hard-pressed to match. Their respect for him solidified as he showed his usefulness in keeping them all safe and well-supplied as they headed closer and closer to the Kingdom of Vale.

Vale was the closest thing the villagers of Viridian Outpost had to true safety. Certainly, there were other mid-sized towns and cities beyond Vale's walls that were well-defended and had a constant Hunter presence, but none were very close besides Lighthouse, the main Valean colony city. Getting there, however, required them to cross Lenore's Pass and May doubted even Orville could defend them from the murder of giant Nevermore who were said to roost there.

So to Vale they went, with Orville pressing them forward relentlessly every step of the way. Many of them tried complaining about the blistering pace (Maybelline may or may not have been among the first, curse her worn hips) but Orville simply used the power he called a Semblance to haul them along regardless of their protests.

"I never wanted to run into a group of whiny refugees," Orville had grumbled loudly, "but I promised to help you get to Vale and I'm damn well gonna get you to Vale, and on my _own_ schedule. I _do_ have other things to do besides play Rescue Ranger out here."

May thought it was so adorably endearing how he would always snap and bark at them, yet never failed to make sure they were as comfortable as possible. He even had a stash of sweets to pass out to the children when morale was flagging. She learned that he had helped ferry many groups of likewise unfortunate villagers to more secure locations several times before once she'd needled him into conversation, and bemoaned the fact that none of her granddaughters were the right age to snag this obvious keeper (or that she herself wasn't sixty years younger).

However, even all of Orville's skill and experience wasn't going to save them from the death currently circling them. Not many Grimm hunted in packs; Beowolves were the most infamous species, but they were by no means the most dangerous.

Nemeans were leonine by nature, and thus followed the general pride mentality, with the females doing most of the work. Unlike natural lions, however, the leaders were by no means lazy hunters. A fully-grown male Nemean (like the one whose pride was spiraling down upon them) stood as tall as an Ursa with a mane of night, claws that could tear a man to shreds in seconds, and fangs longer than some swords.

"We're so close," Maybelline heard her son Redd mutter in frustration. He was right, too; the monolithic wall that separated Vale from the Grimmlands could be seen on the horizon, poking up over the forest canopy. She could see the gears grinding away behind Orville's intense brown eyes before nodding once decisively.

"Right," he said, turning to the villagers. "I'm going to make a tunnel that goes right into the guard-house, and when I say go, get going. If I die, whatever I make will start to deteriorate instantly, and you don't wanna get stuck in there when I kick the bucket."

"Die?" Vern the electrician croaked hoarsely. "But you'll come with us, won't you?"

"Even if I seal the tunnel, they'll see where we've gone," Orville explained impatiently. The ring-wall he'd pulled up was already starting to crumble from the repeated crushing claw swipes it was no doubt taking from the other side. "They won't do that if I stay behind and make sure they're distracted."

Orville swept the villagers with a grave expression on his face. "You don't have to like it; fact is, I don't like it either. But I gave my word, and I'm sticking to it, so..." He stomped down with a foot, and the earth trembled mightily before a gaping maw opened up next to him with neat, wide steps leading down, "...get your asses in gear."

The villagers began to protest, but before they could, a terrible _crack_ echoed through the confines of their temporary haven, and the face of a Nemean lioness appeared, yowling ravenously, its pale mask gleaming in the moonlight.

A crimson flash punched through its red eye before exploding violently. "GO!" Orville roared over the villagers' cries of terror as he filled his hand with more red throwing needles, and they obeyed, filing as quickly down into the tunnel as they could. Maybelline was the last to descend, and she spared a moment to place a hand on Orville's shoulder.

"Thank you," she whispered, tears streaming hot down the crevices of her cheeks.

He gave her a small, confident grin. "Just get outta here, May." With another stomp, the steps moved her into the depths of the tunnel before closing off.

Her son's family was waiting below, but the beams of light beyond and the resounding cacophony caused by dozens of feet hitting the ground rapidly let her know that some of the other villagers had run ahead to notify the Vale Guard. By the time she and her thoroughly sore hips managed to ascend into the guardhouse, a heated conversation was already well under way.

"So there's still someone out there?" a man close to her own age was asking Gem, the solar-panel installer. His no-nonsense demeanor and the chevrons emblazoned upon his armor's right pauldron instantly labeled him as a captain.

"Yes, the Faunus who helped us get here," Gem answered, irate and exhausted. "You need to help him before the Nemeans tear him to shreds!"

"N-Nemeans?" gulped one of the guard with the shiniest armor Maybelline had ever seen; obviously a new recruit. "Captain, Nemeans are Class-B Creatures of Grimm; no one without Hunter training would even be able to damage one of those without some heavy-duty Dust rounds!"

May watched in horror as the captain's brows furrowed in impotent frustration. "He's right," the grizzled man sighed, and she could _hear_ the self-loathing in that puff of breath. "My guard would be slaughtered if we tried to help your friend."

Rage and sorrow warred within Maybelline. That boy hadn't needed to do one lick for her and her village, yet he had helped them cross one of the worst stretches of the Grimmlands with no thought for reward or gain, and now he would die alone.

Well not on her watch!

"Now you listen to here!" she snarled, startling not just the guards, but the villagers assembled as well; she hadn't truly let go of the reigns on her temper since her first child had been allowed to wander outside Viridian's wall and was killed. "I and the rest of these people owe our very existence to Orville, and if you think you can cop out and leave him to those _beasts_ out there, then you've got another thing coming!"

She paused in her tirade to catch her breath, but when she caught a glimmer of recognition and... _amusement_ in the captain's eyes, she nearly lost it again.

"Did you say 'Orville'?" the captain asked cautiously, unwilling to provoke her further. "As in, Orville Doyle? Has dog ears, black-and-blonde hair, uses throwing weapons?"

"Um, yes," she answered, unsure whether the guards knew of their savior. The ensuing gale of laughter from the Valeans confirmed her guess.

"Ma'am," the captain continued, raising his hands in a placating gesture. "I mean no disrespect, but we won't need to do a damn thing for that boy. Little brat can handle himself a few Nemeans and would likely use us as a cool-down exercise were we to offer assistance."

"Huh?" Maybelline retorted eloquently, showing every one of her eighty years of experience. She'd heard from Orville's mouth that he'd traveled extensively, but to be so well known by the Vale Guard...

The captain cleared his throat awkwardly, as if unsure how to break the news. "Orville Doyle is a great many things, ma'am, but weak isn't one of them. There have been multiple cases against him for smuggling charges, but no one's ever managed to convict him, despite the fact that virtually everyone knows he did it."

"We were saved...by a _smuggler_?" Jasper asked. He was Maybelline's oldest grandson, a few years older than Orville by her estimate. "Does that make us criminals, too?" Well, he was older, but he wasn't exactly the brightest Dust crystal on display, bless him.

The captain sighed, running a hand over his graying crew-cut hair. "Doyle's definitely on the wrong side of the law most of the time," he said, "but the kid's got a good heart. He's helped many refugees get into the Kingdoms' protection and don't ask for a cent in return; probably because he doesn't exactly _need_ any money thanks to all his illicit gains."

After that, Maybelline sank into her own thoughts on the rough Faunus boy while the others began the tedious job of filling out the proper paperwork for Grimm-displaced refugees (it was a depressingly common occurrence, after all). It took two days before they were able to settle into temporary housing, but when they began to unpack their meager belongings, they found one last gift from Orville.

Each of them had a similar hunk of a crystalline material, each in a different color of the spectrum, but only Maybelline had a note attached to hers.

 _Hey, May,_

 _Captain Hue has probably informed you of my less than legal activities. Sorry for not being totally truthful, but being wary is part of my job description. I didn't do any of this for work, though; helping people is its own reward, as dumb and cheesy as that sounds. So, when no one was looking, I slipped some raw Dust crystals into everyone's bag. Each one is worth enough for one person to live comfortably for about three months (four if you're frugal) because that kind of Dust can only be found in one place (and I just so happen to be the only one who knows about it). If you sell it to a place called Dust Til Dawn and mention me, the Old-Timer'll give you a good price. Pass on the message to the others, and good luck!_

 _Orville_

She fought the grateful tears that sprang to her eyes as she passed the note to her son. That little rapscallion had just ensured all of the villagers would have enough funds to get back on their feet in next to no time.

She would have to return the favor somehow, but what could a bright young man like that even want? Perhaps dear Peter would know, he was a professor at some big-time Hunter academy here in Vale; the old buffoon would likely have some insight on a teenage boy's mind.

* * *

Whistling a merry tune, Orville Doyle walked down the streets of one of Vale's less than reputable neighborhoods feeling pretty good about himself. He'd managed to not only score the Dust ol' Pumpkin Spice needed, but there was also the villagers that were now safe because of his actions.

Making money was all well and good, and thanks to his inside scoop and unique skills pretty darn easy to boot, but making the world a little better was what he truly enjoyed. People as a group sucked, but individuals were often pretty cool and he sort of liked meeting new folks anyway.

Turning down a side alley, Orville knocked twice on the metal door at the end, then smiled at the suspicious eyes that greeted him through the sliding grate. "I've got an appointment with your boss," he said shortly; meeting people was nice and everything, but mooks were all pretty bland as a rule of thumb.

"Who're you?" grunted the grunt.

"Your worst nightmare if you keep asking stupid questions," Orville answered with the same chipper grin, fighting to keep his eyes from rolling. "Go tell him someone's got an appointment, and he'll know who it is. That's usually how appointments work, see?"

"Alright," the doorkeeper muttered plaintively. "You don't have to be so condescending, you know."

Thankfully, no more goons barred his way once he was inside the warehouse, and he followed his nose to a small prefab bungalow sitting near one of the other exits. He kicked the door in and grinned at the man sitting behind the desk within.

"Roman Torchwick, you old thieving bastard, how ya been?" he asked, dropping onto the metal chair opposite the criminal mastermind.

"Pretty good, Spot," Roman shot back dryly, but Orville could see the amusement behind the guy-liner and...was that a black eye? "You get the stuff?"

"You get the stuff?" Orville mimicked sarcastically. "C'mon, man you sound like some two-bit criminal in an old cop movie." Orville turned his focus fully onto the part of his mind auto-piloting his Semblance, which had been holding up the blocks of compressed Dust since roughly just before he'd met the Viridian Outpost folks.

Having the ability to move earth and earth-related matter with his will was a fairly handy skill to have for a professional smuggler (to handle raw Dust in the same manner even more so), and he'd exploited it with a smile on his face and a song in his heart. People needed Dust, but the Kingdoms liked to tax the bejezzus out of any and all imports, and even the domestic brands were fairly expensive. It was why there was such a thing as 'Designer Dust', kinds that couldn't be found within any Kingdom's borders that cost an arm and a leg for half a vial's worth.

That was where Orville came in. It was really just luck that he learned to become self-sufficient so early in life, whether good or bad depended on his mood. His parents had been very active White Fang members, but had perished in one of the first truly violent incidents, leaving him orphaned and alone. The Fang tried to recruit him, using their deaths as a bargaining chip and promising him vengeance upon those who had taken them from him.

But he wasn't an idiot, even as a child. Humans hadn't taken his parents from him, hatred had, and that was what the White Fang was inciting: hatred and fear. Orville knew he wanted no part in it, and left the compound he had called home for the underbelly of Vale.

Being ten on the streets was a bit of a challenge at first, compounded by the fact that he was a Faunus child in the aftermath of the worst uprising in centuries. The White Fang's increasingly aggressive actions only created more discrimination against him, and it was all he could do sometimes to keep his rumbling guts and bruised body from waking him up at night.

He caught a lucky break a few months after his sudden lifestyle change when, by sheer chance, he was in the wrong place at the perfectly right time to help a smuggler called Gin give some members of Vale's police force the slip. The patrol officer who had tripped over the poor Faunus gave him a sound thrashing, but the smuggler had found him later and patched him up, offering him a job and a steady supply of food. To the starving stray, Gin had been a gift from the heavens, and he swore that he would help in any way he could.

As luck would have it, Gin had trained as a Hunter before becoming disillusioned with the system and its corruption. According to him, getting Dust to the people who really needed it was just as admirable a calling as taking down Grimm. And it wasn't like they didn't exterminate any Grimm who got in their way after Orville began to really learn the 'tricks of the trade,' so to speak.

Thanks to Gin, Orville learned everything there was to know about smuggling and Grimm extermination. When the revelation of his Semblance came (and everything it implied for their business) they made a killing in the black market. Gin ended up retiring, having had enough of Grimm trying to use him as a mid-morning snack, but Orville couldn't give up the independence of traveling, nor the smug feeling he got knowing that he was 'sticking it to the Man,' as Gin was wont to say.

The Grimmlands were a terrible place, but Orville had loved it from the start. Something instinctive within him howled in pure ecstasy when he first set foot outside of the safety of Vale. To him, the sheer freedom of a smuggler's life made up for all the danger presented by Man, Grimm, and Remnant Herself. He reveled in falling asleep as he counted the universe of stars spread above him, hunting for sustenance, and even starving when his skill wasn't up to the task. He was free to do whatever he wanted, however he wanted to do it, and the only thing stopping him were his own limitations.

He'd met Roman Torchwick when he was twelve and they'd immediately gotten along like a house on fire. 'Thick as thieves,' the saying went, and Orville _was_ technically stealing tax money from the government so it was an apt description of the pair. Roman had been a tentative contact of Gin's, and when the old smuggler retired (handing off his criminal network to Orville) Roman had been the first to accept him as Gin's successor.

Dropping the bag he'd been carrying onto the table with a deceptively loud thud, Orville took out the Dust crystals he'd procured, each about the size and shape of a brick. All of them had been much larger and of a more asymmetrical inclination when he'd found them, but Semblances were wonderful things (at least his was).

"Everything you asked for," Orville smirked, thoroughly pleased with himself. He reached into the left breast pocket of his flannel shirt and tossed Roman three small crystals in shades of the primary colors. "And that's a little something from your old pal, on the house."

Roman caught the offerings with a chuckle. "You really are the best pet a guy could ask for, Spot" he said almost fondly. "Any trouble on the road?"

"Had to play escort for some survivors of a Grimm incursion," Orville answered with a grimace. "They're starting to happen more often, y'know?"

Roman gestured to one of the various maps he had pinned to the cork board behind him, which depicted the outlying villages in the Grimmlands surrounding Vale. There were black pins in many places, Orville noted, and a lot of them were places where towns and outposts had recently been.

"You're preaching to the choir, kid," Roman sighed. "Don't get me wrong; more Grimm attacks means more demand for Dust, and I'm all for a little extra profit, but too many means that there won't be anyone _to_ demand it soon or late." He turned back to Orville with a smirk. "So did they have to beg for you to help them out or did you give another freebie away?"

The dog Faunus shrugged helplessly. "What can I say?" he said. "I'm a sucker for octogenarians."

Roman snorted in disgust. "Your compassion is gonna get you killed one of these days, kid."

Orville shook his head before deciding to move on; it was an old argument between them. "So, what's this I hear from Junior about you shackin' up with some new boss? I thought Roman Torchwick was nobody's bitch?" He'd been joking, but something dark and foreboding passed across Roman's face that made him frown.

"Yeah, well times change," the thief bit out around his cigar. "Cinder's...different." Orville pretended not to notice the shudder that shook Roman's shoulders minutely. "You know those people with enough power and motivation to change the world?" Orville nodded, curious. "She eats people like that for breakfast."

Leaning back, Orville's eyebrows rose. Roman was about as self-centered as it was possible to be, and he loathed anyone who was undeniably better than him. But here he was, working for a woman who he would compliment (however grudgingly) without a second thought. It seemed he'd been gone for a little too long.

"Anyway," Roman muttered, opening a drawer in his desk and withdrawing a bottle and a pair of tumblers. "Enough with this bullshit, let's celebrate another victorious homecoming for my favorite little stray!"

Orville grinned; at least _that_ aspect of Roman had remained constant.

* * *

Orville groaned as he awoke, wondering just what the hell he had been thinking the previous night. Celebrating a job well done was one thing, but overindulging and rising with a splitting headache and a mouth full of shit was something he could definitely live without.

"Curse my weak self-control," he mumbled, shielding his eyes before opening them cautiously. Hangovers and sudden light never mixed well, as he'd learned the hard way (on several different occasions).

Looking around, he found himself surrounded by people of a similar age, most of them sitting around in the room they were in. Some, though, were standing and looking out the windows that ringed the walls. Curiously, he turned his head and caught sight of Vale City passing below.

...that didn't sound right.

He pulled out his scroll (noting thankfully that he still had his butterfly swords strapped to his back) and dialed the contact labeled 'Jack', audio-only. "Hey, _Jack_ ," he said in a falsely cheerful voice as he tried to focus on something other than the tiny little miner in his head setting off a dynamite charge. "What's, ah, what's going on?"

Roman had the gall to chuckle merrily at him. "Oh, Spot," he sighed dramatically. "You never learn, do you? Never play poker with your ol' pal Romy, especially not for favors, and e _specially_ not when you're trashed."

"Guh, I don't even remember agreeing to a favor," Orville grunted, knowing that excuse wouldn't mean jack to _Jack_. "What's the occasion this time? Am I to break up with your latest paramour? Where's this airship taking me?"

"Yeah, about that..." Roman trailed off for a moment, sounding oddly apologetic; Roman Torchwick was many things, but apologetic was not one of them. "Okay, 'member how I was telling you about my new employer?"

Orville cast his mind back to last night's conversation and vaguely recalled something to that effect; scary woman, hot as hell but psycho. "Yeah?"

"Well, see, I owed _her_ a favor, and now you're the one paying the debt," Roman continued, trying for nonchalance. "So you're officially enrolled at Beacon Academy as a first-year, and you'll be gathering intel for the first semester or so until the rest of her operatives enter stage left."

Trying to keep his voice down, Orville hissed, "What the _fuck_ , Roman! You know me, you know how I feel about the Kingdoms, and Hunters in particular! How the hell could you even _think_ about doing this to me?"

"Look," Roman snapped, and behind the bluster Orville was stunned to pick out _remorse_ of all things in the thief's voice. "I already feel like a piece of shit for this, you don't have to rub it in; this woman, she's _dangerous_. You're a good kid, and I know I don't say it, but I consider you the closest thing to a friend I have. It's better for you to be on her side than die screaming."

Orville didn't say anything after Torchwick's proclamation; really, what _could_ he say after an announcement like that?

"Just...just fit in, try not to make any waves, and get the job done," Roman concluded. "I'm not going to apologize, since I'm doing this to save your miserable life. Good luck."

And with that, the line went dead, leaving Orville with muddled thoughts and a killer hangover.

Roman Torchwick was one of the most fearless people he knew; he laughed in the face of danger and toasted his own inevitably grisly death each night. So when he spoke like that, with an undercurrent of terror in his words, Orville payed attention. He would do as he was asked, but he wasn't going to take it lying down.

The bitch Pumpkin Spice was scared of likely had some abominable Semblance or an insane amount of Aura (or perhaps both; as horrible as that prospect seemed), but it didn't matter to him. He remembered little and less about his parents, but he did remember a saying his father oft repeated: "It ain't the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."

He would fight to the last in order to maintain his freedom, and the freedom of his companions. Roman's comment about being the closest thing to a friend he had really struck a chord in Orville; traveling the world as a smuggler didn't offer many chances at friendship, and he felt likewise for the thief. If someone was pressuring him, threatening him, then Orville would do everything in his power to stop it.

His grand thoughts of revenge and liberation were interrupted by his stomach making a sudden bid for its own freedom through his mouth, and he only had a moment to push open the nearest window to hork up the contents of his guts.

"Sorry," he mumbled weakly to whoever was unlucky enough to get hit by his flying vomit. He really needed to stop drinking.

He kept his head hanging out of the window, the cool air doing wonders for his nausea while clearing his head of the tumultuous thoughts circling in his head. A quick, almost tentative poke to his back brought his attention back to the airship's interior, where a pair of girls were standing close by.

His gaze was instinctively drawn to the taller one, an absolutely gorgeous blonde with pale purple eyes and a generous figure shown off very pleasantly by that outfit she had on. But his focus snapped instead to the smaller one, the one whose finger was still outstretched from where it had jabbed him. While not as obviously attractive as her companion, it was hard to find fault in the devastatingly cute features framed by red hair so dark it was almost black or those big silver eyes that seemed to shine in the sunlight.

Realizing he hadn't said anything, he cleared his throat, spitting the resultant wad of phlegm out the still-open window, then turned to them and asked, "Can I help you?"

"We just wanted to see if you were alright," the smaller one said, worrying the hem of her red cloak between her fingers. Orville bit back the sarcastic comment that sprang immediately to his lips; _don't make waves_ , Roman had said. Starting fights with the other students before getting to the actual school would likely create ripples.

"It's just," the girl rambled on nervously, "we saw when your...er...friends brought you in and dumped you in that seat, then when you woke up you started throwing up so...um, I just..."

Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, Orville favored her with an easy grin. "Nothing to worry about, Little Red. Just got too party-hearty last night."

"The day before you're supposed to go to Beacon?" Blondie replied, raising an amused eyebrow. "Aren't you a little rebel?"

"A little nauseous, actually," Orville mumbled, massaging his temples to try and soothe the throbbing pain. "But it _was_ pretty stupid, I'll give you that." _Even if I hadn't_ known _I'd be going to Beacon until some ass-hat just told me a few minutes ago_ , he thought bitterly. "So, Goldilocks, you and Red here got names?"

Blondie put a finger to her chin in thought. "Goldilocks, huh? I kinda like it, actually."

"I'm Ruby," Red jumped in, "and this is my big sister Yang."

She gave him an expectant smile. "Oh, right...My name's Orville. Nice to meetcha. So where are you from, then?"

"A little island called Patch, just off the coast of Vale," Ruby replied, looking happy that he actually decided to open a dialogue with her. "There's lots of forests and plenty of Grimm to practice on. It's really great. What about you?"

Orville paused, wondering whether or not he should lie, but Ruby's earnest eyes were just too much to handle. "Well, I've spent most of my life traveling so I suppose you could say I'm from everywhere and nowhere."

"Wow, vague _and_ difficult," Yang smirked. "You must get all the ladies."

"Only when they ask extra-nicely," Orville answered without missing a beat. "So what's it like living on a piece of rock in the middle of the ocean?"

Ruby pouted, and Orville briefly thought that should be illegal. "It sounds lame when you say it like that," she groused. "Patch is a great place, and there's all sorts of cool stuff to do there. There's even this cave where a half-Man, half-Grimm, half-Faunus is supposed to live, but I've never gone in there. Whenever I work up the courage, there's always some un _godly_ groaning and moaning coming from inside."

"Um," Orville began, but Yang gave him the 'cut it out' gesture frantically behind her sister's back and he coughed to hide his snickers. "That, ah, actually does sound pretty interesting."

"What about walking Remnant?" Yang asked, a subject change if Orville ever heard one. "That seems pretty wild." Her lilac eyes widened, pleading.

He thought about letting her sweat for a while, but wasn't feeling quite up to the task in his condition. "It's the best thing in the world," he instead supplied, closing his eyes as he recalled the feeling of standing in the middle of the Great Plain with a thunderstorm howling toward him and a horde of Grimm at his back. "I think it would be hard to explain to an islander how liberating it is."

"No," Yang said, looking out the windows at the horizon. "I'm pretty sure I can understand well enough. I wanna become a Huntress so I can travel and have fun, and it's really hard to do that on a little Patch of land."

Ignoring the terrible wordplay, Orville raised an eyebrow. "So your idea of fun involves killing soulless murder-beasts? I wanna party with _you_."

"You wish, Corndog," Yang returned playfully.

"Hey!" Ruby piped up, pointing to one of the holo-screens nearby. It was currently showing a very flattering mug-shot of good ol' Romy (seriously, it was hard to take a _bad_ picture of the bastard) while the reporter blathered on about how terrible kingdom security was becoming. "That's the guy I fought!"

Orville nearly choked on his own laughter as he tried desperately to stifle it. This little girl was who Roman had gotten that shiner from? Oh, man, Pumpkin Spice was _never_ going to live this one down.

"You took on a wanted criminal like that and lived to tell the tale?" Orville asked, impressed. He knew Roman was no pushover; hell, he and the orange-haired man were about evenly matched when it came to combat skill. The only reason Orville consistently won their infrequent spars was the raw instinct that came with roaming the Grimmlands.

"That's my li'l sis for ya," Yang bragged as she looped an arm around the younger girl's shoulders. "It's the reason she's even going to Beacon in the first place! Skipped her two whole years, if you can believe it."

"Wait, you're fifteen?" _Oh, Roman, your comeuppance will be as sweet and cold as ice cream_. "Nicely done, Little Red."

"Shut your stupid face," Ruby mumbled, a charming flush creeping up her face as she flapped away his praise; apparently she didn't take compliments well.

The picture on the holo changed so that instead of his old buddy's face, it showed a photo of a strapping young man with messy blonde hair and clear blue eyes. He was staring off to the side with a grim look on his face, and the anchorwoman began to gush about all this person's recent accomplishments.

"...has just returned from a long-term recon mission in the middle of the Mantle Grimmlands," she was practically _squee_ ing. Orville rolled his eyes in disgust, jabbing his thumb at the picture as he turned to the sisters.

"Who's that dude?" he asked.

They both pinned him with a look of incredulous surprise. "Are you kidding me?" Yang snorted in disbelief. "That's Jaune Arc, man. He's only, like, the most famous Huntsman in Remnant."

"Yeah," Ruby took over enthusiastically, "He's the youngest licensed Hunter in the past fifty years, and his family tree's full of legendary heroes. Even the weapon he uses, Crocea Mors, has an amazing history behind it. This last mission he went on was to guard an archaeological expedition to some ruins in the Grimmlands outside of Atlas; they were out there for a whole _month_!"

"Sounds like an over-hyped douche bag to me," Orville grunted dubiously, with only a twinge of envy. It wasn't like _he'd_ ever spent an extended amount of time in the Grimmlands guarding civvies and non-combatants. This Jaune guy does it and it gets him inter-kingdom press coverage; Orville does it and he gets a bench warrant. Go figure.

"Sounds like someone's jealous," Yang snickered, elbowing him in the ribs teasingly.

"Whatever," Orville brushed it off with a shrug; it wasn't like he could do anything about undeserved celebrity anyway. "Looks like Beacon's coming up," he observed, jerking his chin toward the swiftly-growing towers ahead.

Ruby and Yang both grinned in anticipation as the airship docked, and they shuffled him off down the ramp before he could even check to see if Roman had left him with any luggage. He stepped to the side of the ramp and stared up at the vaunted spires of Beacon Academy; while he wasn't exactly happy to be here under such circumstances, Orville would give credit where it was due. The school was an incredible sight, and he burned it into his memory to sit with the other monumental places he'd visited.

He got so caught up in mentally recording the image that he failed to notice that his new blonde acquaintance had vanished until he heard Ruby whine loudly.

"Where'd your sister go?" he asked, looking around but failing to see a strand of gold hair anywhere.

"She totally ditched me," Ruby pouted morosely.

"She ditched _us_ ," corrected Orville, and the redhead perked up hopefully. "You looked out for me on the airbus, I'll do the same for you down here, alright?"

"Great!" Ruby exclaimed, her earlier melancholy already forgotten as she bounced around gleefully. "I knew talking with you would be a good idea!" Orville tried to stop her from getting too excited, but before he was able to come up with a decent plan of attack Ruby had spun directly into a luggage cart full of pristine white suitcases pushed by a couple guys whose resigned expressions labeled them as professional servants instantly.

"What are you _doing_?" snapped a snotty voice. The girl who it belonged to was quite short; even with those heels on, the top of her snowy side-saddle ponytail would only just graze Orville's chin. She was definitely a beauty, and the pale scar lancing down her left eye would have proven that she wasn't just a pretty face if the wickedly-sharp rapier and the white battle-skirt didn't already.

"Sorry," mumbled Ruby as Orville reached down and helped her to her feet. She picked up one of the cases helpfully only for Whitey to snatch it from her grasp immediately.

" _Sorry_?" the girl parroted, condescending. "Do you have any idea how much damage you could have caused?" She opened up the luggage, revealing vials of powdered Dust in a variety of colors (though none in Orville's signature shades, he noted smugly).

"This is top-grade Dust, mined and refined by the Schnee Dust Company," Whitey boasted proudly, faltering when Ruby made a confused noise in the back of her throat. "What are you, brain-dead?" the princess ground out through clenched teeth as she pulled out a vial and shook it menacingly at Ruby.

Orville noticed immediately that the vial hadn't properly been capped off and cut off whatever else Whitey was going to say by pulling Ruby away from the leaked powder that was floating gently to the ground, putting an arm over his nose. One of his Semblance's main limitations was that he couldn't handle refined Dust at all; something about the process played havoc on his control.

"You're gonna wanna check the seal on that one, Edelweiss," he said sharply, waving the Dust away from him so he didn't take out half the road if he sneezed. "Somebody in the Schnee Dust Company doesn't know how to package their product."

"And just what would _you_ know about the proper handling of Dust?" the girl began, only for her to pull a double-take on the faulty seal. Her porcelain complexion gained an enchanting shade of pink as she realized he was right.

"More than you'd think, Princess," Orville replied smoothly. He peered at her for longer than was strictly polite as he noted the abashed tint to her regal features.

"It's heiress, actually," a new voice corrected calmly from Orville's blind spot. He sniffed once before leaping away and spinning to face this newcomer who smelled of feline. His eyes narrowed as he took in the girl's lithe form, wrapped appealingly as it was in body-hugging black and white, but as his gaze jumped up past her lovely face to the mane of jet-black hair Orville focused on the big black bow tied neatly atop her head with a frown.

"Um, what?" Ruby asked, heedless of the bewilderment rushing through his head as he studied the girl.

"Weiss Schnee, heir to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest suppliers of energy propellant in the world," Black Beauty said after gazing unnervingly right back at Orville for a moment as though trying to convey some meaning through her amber eyes. There was an almost nervous look in them, something Orville was incredibly curious about, but the fact that she was _hiding_ obvious Faunus animal ears under that bow made his Aura thrum uncomfortably.

Her words registering belatedly in his mind, Orville turned back to the newly-dubbed Weiss (and he couldn't believe how close he'd come to actually guessing her name). "You're the Schnee heir?" he asked incredulously. "What about Winter, I thought she was the firstborn?"

"You know my sister?" Weiss wondered aloud, astonishment overriding her indignation.

"In a manner of speaking," Orville answered evasively, fighting the urge to snort. Truth was, Winter Schnee was one of the main reasons he'd only been to Mantle once in his life with no plans to return. The Schnee family's Semblance was a terror on the battlefield, and he had first-hand experience (and a frost-bite scar) to prove it.

Weiss seemed to get a hold of her emotions as she sneered. "Schnee politics are none of your concern," she grumbled, turning to Black Beauty before adding, "Although it's nice to get some recognition in this place."

Beauty gave Weiss a flat stare as she continued in an impressive deadpan, "The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners."

"Not to mention how much they overcharge for trash Dust," Orville felt the need to put his own two Lien into the conversation (for intellectual purposes, of course). He smirked when Ruby let out a tiny, likely unintentional giggle.

"Wha-?" Weiss was momentarily speechless with rage as her icy eyes bounced between the three of them. "How _dare_ you!? Schnee Dust is some of, if not _the_ best in Remnant, and our business acumen is above reproach! The _nerve_..." She sputtered incoherently before finally just walking away, leaving her...assistants (butlers?) to pick up the luggage and hurry after her.

"I'm sorry," Ruby called once more after the Schnee girl's retreating form. "I'll make it up to you, I promise!" She sighed heavily, muttering, "I guess I'm not the only one having a rough first day."

Orville kept one ear tuned into Ruby's ramblings, but most of his attention was centered upon the Black Beauty, who was _definitely_ a Faunus. She stared right back at him, neither twitching a muscle as they sized the other up. His nostrils were flared, though, and as he took in her scent from so close he had to consciously stop his lip from curling.

Most Faunus are born with superior senses, and he was no exception. However, where the majority simply gain heightened perception and excellent low-light vision, Orville's ancestry presented him with olfactory and aural senses far above average, even for a Faunus. It wasn't as though Beauty's scent was 'bad', but something instinctive within him recoiled at the signals coming from his nose, like a recovering nicotine addict catching a whiff of cigarette smoke. She was a freaking _cat_.

"So, what's your name?" Ruby asked, either unaware or uncaring of the tension pulled taut between them.

"Blake Belladonna," the _cat_ answered without taking her eyes off Orville. Trepidation swam in the amber there, frolicking with hints of panic and defiance in equal measure.

"Well, I'm Ruby Rose," the youngest of the trio continued on with a friendly smile. "And this guy here is Orville...uh...?" She glanced at him questioningly, as if only just then realizing she hadn't learned his last name.

"Doyle," he said after a moment's pause. "Nice to meet such a _cat_ -ivating woman."

She stiffened at his words, frowning harshly as her gaze flickered to Ruby, then presented them with a smile so forced it was painful to _him_. "Thank you for saying so," she replied politely. "I've never met a dog Faunus before, do you think I might ask you a few personal questions?"

And before either he or Ruby could protest, she'd grabbed his arm and pulled him off the main brick walkway and behind some trees before slamming him into the trunk of a large elder, a dangerous gleam in her eyes.

"Who are you? How do you know me?" she hissed, pressing something rather sharp against his neck.

He snarled low in his throat, a warning to let her know that he wouldn't take this lying down. The green-and-brown daggers that he'd pressed against her ribs were just in case she didn't get the memo. "I don't know who the hell you _think_ you are, but you aren't important enough for me to even care."

Disbelief warred with caution on her face, and after a moment, she stepped out of his personal space, sheathing what looked like a katana behind her back.

Popping his flannel's collar back into place after the rough treatment, Orville fixed her with a glare that would have sent a lesser person fleeing for their lives as he allowed the daggers to meld back into the Dust cube he'd bent them from on his belt. "So what's got your ribbon in a bow?" he demanded. "Or did you just not want me to spill the beans about your _cat_ ears?" He spat on the ground between them to try and relieve the sour taste in his mouth. "Have you so little pride in what you are that you'd choose to hide them?"

"I am _more_ than proud to be a Faunus," Blake growled with such vehemence that Orville was taken aback by the force of her words. "I'm not hiding _what_ I am."

It took only a moment to realize what she was implying, and another few seconds to connect the rest of the dots. His frown deepened until it was a full scowl. "You're White Fang," he managed to say in a strangled voice as he fought to control his breathing.

"No," Blake denied, a curiously agonized expression passing across her features. "Not anymore."

"What, did you get tired of all the fear mongering and blatant murder?" he sneered, and was more than a little surprised when she gave a jerky, hesitant nod. "Oh," he intoned, for lack of anything better to do.

While he processed _that_ , Blake gave a gusty sigh. "Look, I know that the White Fang hasn't made life for Faunus any easier," she said, glancing away in shame and Orville bit down on his sarcastic reply. "I don't expect you to feel any sympathy for me, but please don't let anyone know about my...former affiliations. I came here to try and atone for what I've done, and I can't do that if I'm expelled or imprisoned."

Orville grimaced, studying the cat for any signs of deception. When he was unable to find even a trace, he pushed his bangs out of his face with a groan; it wasn't like he didn't have a healthy fear of the slammer himself, and there were plenty of things he'd done that he wished he could fix. "Fine," he grunted after some thought. "My parents are probably rolling in their graves right now, but I agree to keep your secret. If I get even a bad feeling about you, though," he pinned her with a scathing glare, "I won't hesitate to take you down myself."

Blake seemed like she didn't quite believe the situation, but gave him a grateful smile that transformed her apathetic face into something beautiful. "Thank you," she whispered earnestly. "I wouldn't expect anything less. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry about your parents. I...lost mine as well."

Closing his eyes at the latest revelation, he caught the slowly-approaching floral scent of Ruby Rose as she tried to creep up on them. "Well, now we're both sorry. Ruby's coming."

"Orville, are you alright?" Ruby called out warily from the other side of the tree as she inched closer. "You've been talking for a few minutes now."

A devious thought floated to the top of his consciousness, and he felt a smirk pull his lips up. With not a moment to spare, he rumpled his clothes up and adopted a shell-shocked expression then stumbled away from the tree in a punch-drunk fashion.

"Wow, Blake, I didn't know that 'personal questions' meant 'make-out session behind a tree'," he slurred deliriously.

Ruby, who had just gotten to a position where she could see their little hiding spot, shot Blake a scandalized look. The Faunus in question gaped comically at Orville, who stuck out his tongue from behind Ruby's back.

"Blake, I wouldn't have taken you for one of _those_ girls," Ruby mumbled as her face grew as red as her namesake.

"I-but...wha?" stammered Blake, whose face was heating up to give Ruby a run for her money.

"It was very nice and everything," Orville continued happily, "I just wish you would have given me a bit of a warning."

"Really now," Ruby scolded, still flushed but looking indignant on Orville's behalf, which was oddly touching. "Just because he's a boy doesn't mean you don't need proper consent before you force yourself on him."

"Huh?" Blake practically whimpered, bewilderment plain on her face as she tried to comprehend the situation she'd found herself in before finally collecting herself and giving a less-than-apologetic shrug and a smirk. "Sorry, I just wanted to see if it was true that all canine Faunus possess no inhibitions; it is."

"Oh, ho-ho," chuckled Orville. _Kitty's got claws_ _after all_. "The truth of the matter is that no one can resist the raw animal magnetism of the dog Faunus, even themselves. It's a blessing and a curse," he flung a hand across his eyes dramatically, and Ruby seemed to understand that he was just having a laugh.

"Wait, so you _weren't_ playing tonsil hockey?" Ruby asked, looking almost relieved before she rounded on Orville. "Lying is a bad habit; you shouldn't do stuff like that, even if it's just a joke."

"Lying's got me this far," Orville responded, tweaking the girl's nose with a grin as he cringed internally. "I'd probably be dead, or worse, without the magic of fallacy."

He really did feel bad about his lack of honesty toward the redhead. She'd been nothing but nice to him, which was part of the reason he was so wary of her; in his not so insignificant experience, people like that almost always wanted something in return. Ruby seemed very different for some reason, though. It might have been her sheer cuteness playing havoc with his instincts, or her optimistic attitude clashing with his jaded world-view, but he felt like trusting the girl was the most natural thing in Remnant.

"Anyways," he continued, steering the conversation away from _that_ minefield. "We should probably get to the auditorium for orientation or whatever, right?"

Ruby nodded in agreement, but when they turned to get Blake's opinion she was already a good distance away. Apparently, she didn't enjoy their brief faux-mantic tryst.

"C'mon, let's follow her," Ruby suggested, pulling on the sleeve of his hoodie. "She seems to know where we're supposed to be going."

Orville couldn't see fault in that logic and agreed, trailing after the curtain of black hair ahead of them in silence. Which was good for Orville, since he still needed to truly process that he'd somehow managed to get roped into some massively powerful (or cunning, or some sinister combination of the two) criminal mastermind's scheme. What kind of intelligence did he even need to gather on Beacon Academy? He doubted anyone would tell him the plan so he'd know what to look for, and that only made his job harder.

He stifled a sigh; smuggling was so much easier than this. He really kind of hated Roman.

"So," Ruby spoke up, the sound of a mecha-shifting weapon interrupting his thoughts. He turned to find the petite girl handling a humongous scythe with a red-and-black color scheme and a gleaming silver blade. Oddly enough, it suited Ruby perfectly in Orville's mind. "I've got this."

Orville scanned the weapon with great interest. The jigsaw of components was artful and functional at once, and he noticed a trigger just under the blade's curve. The top of the haft bore a circular opening as well, so it must also be a firearm of some sort, likely high-caliber.

"It's awesome," he finally said, and Ruby glowed at his words. "A scythe with, what is that, a sniper rifle built in?"

"Y-yeah," Ruby confirmed, brushing her hair out of her face bashfully. "She's called Crescent Rose; I made her myself." She pointed awkwardly to the hilts of his butterfly swords, poking out from behind him near his lowest ribs on either side. "What about you?"

Orville unsheathed them, holding them out for Ruby's inspection. They were only about as long as his forearm, barely more than glorified daggers with a single cutting edge while the back of each blade was composed of twin barrels. The only difference between them was the coloration; one was black and reflected the light sharply while the other was pale with a pearly sheen to it.

"These are the Dynamic Duo," he proclaimed proudly. "Sawed-Off Butterfly Shotswords. They're not much for long-range, but they can handle just about anything short-to-mid." He held up the black one, "This is Obsidian, and this is Selenite. I didn't make 'em, they used to belong to my mentor, but I made lots of alterations when they were given to me."

Ruby's eyes were wide as she absorbed the information. She reached out toward Selenite, but hesitated before she actually touched the blade. Orville flipped it, presenting the hilt to her, and she snatched it from his grasp instantly, turning it this way and that as she muttered to herself.

"I get most of it," she said at last, handing the weapon back to Orville reverently before pointing to a crystalline tube which nestled in the groove between the gun barrels before disappearing a scant centimeter before the muzzle, "but what's that thing?"

"Dust chamber," Orville explained, sheathing Obsidian and idly pulling a small strand of Fire Opal Dust from its designated pouch on his utility belt and bending it into a small rod shape. He showed it to her before sliding it into the opening of the crystal tube near the breach. "I can change what my shells do with different Dust. This kind gives it an explosive kick and sometimes sets stuff on fire."

"You have more kinds?" Ruby wondered. "I've only got my special Dust rounds," she patted a cross-shaped magazine on her own belt. "They produce more impact, but nothing like yours."

Orville hesitated, weighing the pros and cons of playing show-and-tell with Ruby, but again he just had a feeling that he could trust this girl. So he removed the utility belt with its seven pouches and pulled out the block of solid Dust from each of them while explaining.

"I told you about Fire Opal, so I'll skip it," he said, pointing instead to the orange one. "This is Sunstone, and it works a little like a flash-bang. The yellow-gold one, Pyrite, generates electricity. Tiger's Eye is the greenish brown one and acts like a tranquilizer. Then there's Moonstone, the pale blue one; it's one of my favorites 'cause it screws around with gravity, lots of fun stuff to work with there. Amethyst can work either as a venom or antivenin, depending on how much Aura you put into it. Last is Alexandrite, it promotes Aura regeneration; I mostly use it to recharge when I'm tapped out."

Ruby was transfixed by the Dust crystals. "These are amazing. I've never even seen heard about Dust that can do things like that. Where'd you buy them?"

"I actually found 'em," Orville answered, buckling his belt back around his waist. "Lots of perks to being a world-traveler." He turned, looking for a black bow and found that they were quite alone. "Um, Ruby? Where'd Blake go?"

"Oh," Ruby said shortly after she had swept the area with her own gaze. "I knew I'd forgotten something." She offered him a weak smile. "You wouldn't happen to know where we're supposed to go, do you?"

Orville just groaned.

* * *

 **After-Action Report:** Alright, so that was that. The OC's name is compliant with the Color Rule: Orville means Gold Village while Doyle is the Anglicized version of Dubhgall, meaning Black Stranger. Black and yellow, interestingly enough, feature prominently in his character design for some odd reason.

Orville's personality is based on the idea of a stray dog personified. Most of the dogs I've ever owned were at some point strays, so I understand how difficult it is to earn one's trust. When it's gained, however, they're more loyal than an army of fanatics. He's a bit stand-offish at the moment, except when it comes to Ruby. The reason for this is because like dogs, Orville can somewhat sense her intentions and unconsciously feeds off of that and reciprocates (like dogs do).

He and Blake will have more interaction soon. Part of the reasoning behind Orville's creation was because I wanted to see how Blake would react to a Faunus with canine traits after seeing her with Zwei (my favorite RWBY character, btw). They're both Faunuses (Fauni? Fauns?), but Blake was a prominent member of the White Fang while Orville wants absolutely nothing to do with them. I hope it will make for a nice dynamic.

Jaune's position as a fully-licensed Hunter before the first semester of Beacon even begins will be explained, but for now, I'll just say that his Semblance plays a prominent role. He'll be making an appearance soon enough, and key points will be revealed.

Orville's friendship with Roman is something I hadn't planned on, but I'm going to roll with it anyway. Everyone needs a friend, even if they're criminals.

Also, if you're anything like me and subconsciously read dialogue in the character's voices, I picture Orville with Vic Mignogna's dulcet tones. And if you don't know who that is, he's the VA for Edward Elric of _Fullmetal Alchemist_ fame.

I think that's it. If there's something I failed to address here, please feel free to review or PM me with questions, comments, hateful words, etc. Thanks for reading, and have a great day!


	2. Greased Lightnin'

**Author's Note:** Well, a couple people liked the first chapter, and that's all I need to keep going. Thanks to everyone who fave'd and followed, and special thanks to **Alien Red** and **DarkLord98** , my first two reviewers on this story.

 **Disclaimer** and **Warning** still apply from chapter one.

* * *

Chapter 2: Greased Lightnin'

* * *

The next morning, Orville woke up blessedly headache-free and sans cotton-mouth. He allowed himself a long, lazy stretch before popping to his feet. After sparing a moment for a cursory sweep of his surroundings, he began to pack up his bed roll and get ready for the day.

As he worked to clean up after himself, Orville's mind wandered back to the day before and all that occurred. It was probably one of the most eventful days he'd had since he and Roman took that trip to Vacuo's famous Casino District, and the less said about that the better.

The staff at the school seemed normal enough, barring the headmaster's short and somewhat unsettling welcome speech. Something about the gray-haired man set his gut on edge, though he _was_ the principal of one of the best Hunter academies in the world and had a reputation to match; perhaps it was just his instincts reacting to such a dangerous individual.

The egalitarian sleeping arrangements were interesting as well, especially since there was at least one Faunus girl going through her annual Heat. From what he remembered, it wasn't anything too major (just a week of increased libido and symptoms that made the worst menstrual cycle look like a day at the beach), but his heightened sense of smell ensured that getting to sleep was rather... _hard_ for him that night.

Ruby and Yang had gotten into some sort of altercation with Weiss and Blake, too, but he'd been too far away to really care.

Eventually, he found himself in the locker rooms where he'd stored the Dynamic Duo (he always kept his Dust belt on him at all times), and suited up after a quick shower. Today was initiation, after all, and wouldn't it be a spanner in Roman's plans if Orville flunked out before he even got on a team?

He passively listened in on the students chatting around him, content to simply take in the ambiance.

"Ren, can you imitate a sloth?"

"Nora, I don't think sloths make a lot of noise."

A beat, then: "That's why its _perfect_! No one will suspect we're working together!"

"Unless they happened to overhear this conversation," Orville said casually as he pulled on his jeans.

Two sets of eyes (one light blue, the other dark pink) snapped onto him, and he gave the pair a friendly wave. For some reason, he was feeling incredibly open this morning. The girl with the turquoise eyes had short orange hair and a sunny disposition, while her male companion's hair was dark with a magenta stripe on the left side of his head that matched his eyes.

Both of them regarded him quietly for a moment before the girl, Nora, let out a sudden (and painful) wail. "Oh, no Ren! This guy's onto our scheming! How will we execute our master plan now that it's been compromised?"

"I don't think he really cares much," Ren murmured calmly before turning his gaze toward Orville. "Do you?"

"Not particularly," Orville admitted. "And for the record, a sloth sounds like this." He let out the squeaking sound he'd heard so often in the sloth-infested tropical forests of south-western Vacuo.

Nora's eyes widened so much that Orville was worried they'd leap from her skull and mug him. "That is the _cutest_ thing ever!" she proclaimed, turning to her friend. "Ren, we need to get a sloth!"

Ren gave Orville a look that promised retribution. Orville grinned unrepentantly in response.

"Come on, Nora," Ren sighed in resignation.

"Good luck, you two!" Orville called after them. Ren simply ignored him while Nora waved energetically back as she was pulled away.

"Orville!"

He only had a moment's notice before what felt like a mid-sized cannonball slammed into his back, crushing him into the open locker in front of him.

"Hey, Little Red," he grunted, carefully extracting himself from the enclosed space with a repressed shudder. "Sleep well?"

Ruby looked more hyper and full of energy than anyone had a right to so early in the morning and Orville made a vow to keep her as far away from that Nora girl as possible (he doubted Remnant would be able to survive the two of them working together). She beamed at him as she replied, "Sure did! Me and Yang haven't been bed buddies since before she started going to Signal, it was just like old times!"

Yang, whose appearance was more appropriate for the time of day, gave him a sleepy smile. "All we were missing was a nice pair of dog ears between us."

Rolling his eyes, Orville chuckled. "While it woulda been nice to sleep with a pair of sexy sisters, I don't think I was allowed on the girls' side of the room."

"I was actually talking about our dog, Zwei," Yang corrected with a devious little twist of her lips even as Ruby's face burned red, "but I like the way you think, Corndog."

"Great minds and all that," Orville shrugged on his hoodie and gave another stretch. "Anyways, I think I'll go bother Edelweiss some. If you lovelies will excuse me?"

Yang gave him the 'go ahead' gesture looking thoroughly amused, but Ruby protested. "Don't antagonize her even more than we already did yesterday," she pleaded. "She hates me enough as it is."

"No one could hate _you_ , Little Red," Orville assured her, ruffling her hair. "I'm just trying to draw her ire towards a more deserving target."

Thus he ambled toward the pale girl, who was currently having a conversation with another student. Her outfit and general appearance made it seem like she was Mistrali, with bloody-red hair pulled into a high ponytail and eyes greener than any emerald. On her back was a round shield and a short sword, both the same bronze color as her armor, and she had a vaguely forced smile plastered on her face.

"...so I was thinking we should team up," Weiss was saying to the girl.

"Well, that sounds grand," the redhead replied with very little enthusiasm. Orville felt a wave of sympathy for the poor girl; he'd only encountered Weiss once and already he was exhausted by her.

So, Orville to the rescue.

"You wanna know what else is grand?" he asked, sidling up to the two women, oozing nonchalance. "Not Schnee Dust."

A vein throbbed in Weiss' temple, and Orville grinned internally. It was terribly easy to rile the poor thing up. "You again," she hissed with enough venom that a King Taijitu would have been envious.

"I keep hearing about teams," he continued, heedless of her interjection. "How about you and I join up? I'll show you what real quality Dust looks like," he tapped his utility belt with a conspiratorial wink.

"Actually, I think the teams are comprised of four students each," Big Red piped up helpfully, and Orville gave her a thankful smile.

"Well there we go!" he said joyously. "Three down, one to go. Let's ask Ruby if she wants to be on our team, too."

"Abso _lutely_ not," Weiss growled forcefully. "Get out of here before I go looking for a newspaper to whack you with!"

Orville used his fine muscle control to cause his ears to droop forlornly and put on a mask of utter heartbreak. It was the most secret weapon in his arsenal; he didn't exactly enjoy weaponizing his natural cuteness, but he'd make an exception for Weiss.

"Okay," he sniffed, turning dramatically for effect (if he'd been born with a tail it would've been tucked between his legs for added effect). "I'll just get out of your hair, then." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the briefest flash of contrition flicker across Weiss' face and chalked it up as a win.

"Wait," the as yet unnamed redhead's hand landed on his shoulder, and he looked up to find her presenting him with a more natural smile than what he'd seen her present so far. "You can still be on a team with me, if you'd like?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Orville watched smugly as Weiss' jaw unhinged. He offered the girl a crooked grin. "Thanks," he mumbled. "That's awfully sweet of you. I'm Orville Doyle, by the way."

He offered his hand, but before she could take it Weiss swept up between them, pushing him away. "Listen, Orville is it? Do you even know who it is you're speaking to?"

Orville took a moment to look Big Red over for anything familiar, then shook his head when he couldn't. "Nope."

Oddly, while Weiss' face became disbelieving, Red's expression turned almost hopeful. "This is Pyrrha," Weiss sighed, looking as though she wanted to rub the bridge of her nose.

"Hello again," Pyrrha waved brightly.

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum," Weiss boasted in the redhead's place. Orville, having only been to Mistral once, held out his hands palms-up with a helpless shrug. Weiss shot him an angry glare. "She won the Mistral Regional Championships four times in a row, a new record." Again, Orville was in the dark. Traveling around so frequently (often fleeing the local law enforcement) didn't leave him much time to catch up on the latest fighting champs. Weiss must have seen his confusion because she sort of flipped out, flapping her arms as quickly as a caffeinated hummingbird as she cried, "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!"

"I don't like pumpkin flavor," Orville said obstinately, mind straying to a certain orange-haired dick-head. "And even if I did, I'm not much for eating cereal; it expires too quickly, and it's just too much of a hassle to bring milk on long hauls." Turning to Pyrrha, he gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry I don't know who you are. Congratulations on the winning streak, though. And for getting your face on a cereal box, I guess?"

"Thank you for saying so," Pyrrha replied with a strange gleam in her eyes. "And it's quite alright that you aren't aware of me. It's actually somewhat refreshing, not being known by everyone in sight."

Orville could somewhat relate; most of the wall-guard details in Vacuo and Vale had memorized his face in order to try capturing and convicting him of his 'heinous crimes' against the Kingdoms. It got a bit tiresome after the first few dozen arrest attempts.

"I bet that sucks sometimes," Orville sympathized. "Must be kinda lonely at the top." His eyes strayed to Weiss for a moment before hastily clearing his throat and pasting another grin onto his face. "Well, it was nice to meet you, Pyrrha. Edelweiss, always a pleasure."

"Good luck today," Pyrrha offered. Weiss was examining his face with a not-quite glare, looking halfway between angry and speculative.

"I'd say the same, but I doubt you ladies'll need it," he teased. With a final wave, Orville began to make his way back to Ruby and Yang. Before he got halfway, a cool female voice echoed out from the PA system. "All first-year students, please report to the Beacon Cliffs for Initiation. Again, all first year students, please report to the Beacon Cliffs for Initiation."

The two sisters beat him to the punch, now fully suited up and ready for action. "So how'd it go with Frosty?" Yang asked as they exited the locker rooms.

"I think I figured out what crawled up her ass, at least," Orville replied. "But I'll need to do more investigation."

"And by 'investigation' you mean 'bugging the shit out of her until she snaps and strangles you', right?"

"Essentially, yeah."

"So who was that other girl?" Ruby inquired, likely in order to head him and Yang off before they could lay into Weiss some more. "I swear, I recognize her from somewhere..."

"Oh, some famous fighting champ from Mistral," Orville said. "Her name's Pyrrha. Apparently, she's on the front of a cereal box or something?"

" _That's_ what it was!" Ruby looked like she was about to bust a gasket. "I _love_ Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes!"

"Haven't I told you not to eat those, Ruby?" Yang scolded, an incredibly out-of-place frown marring her features as she gazed sternly at her sister. "Those are bad for your health. Do you want to be that short your whole life?"

"You should eat rabbits," Orville piped up helpfully. "Good source of protein and B12."

Ruby's horrified glare told him that he should probably hold off on offering culinary tips for a while.

* * *

Standing at the edge of the Beacon Cliffs, Orville tried to ignore the wave of melancholy that rose up within him. The forest spread out below with an understated majesty as the canopy swayed in the westerly wind, reminding him of simpler times (like, oh say, two days ago?) when all he had to worry about was which wall official was stupid enough not to take the bribe offered to them or how much lien his buyers would try to short-change him out of.

He really kind of hated Roman.

Orville was so caught up in his moody thoughts that he failed to hear a single word the headmaster had said. Probably some dumb-ass pep talk for the new recruits.

"Are there any questions?" Ozpin concluded, taking a bracing sip of...whatever was in his mug. He'd overheard some of the other students remarking on the man's famous love for coffee, but there was a distinct alcoholic burn mixed in with the caffeinated beverage's robust aroma.

"I do," Orville said. "What's going on again?"

The platinum-blonde cougar next to him (Professor Goodwitch, if he wasn't mistaken) shot him a lethal glare while Ruby and Yang snickered in the background.

"If there are no questions, I would suggest you get into position," Ozpin continued on, completely ignoring Orville.

Feeling a little rebellious, Orville kicked at the ground and pulled a hoverboard-shaped piece of stone from the earth before sitting down on the engraved launch pad, resting the construct on his lap.

"What are you doing?" Ruby asked from beside him.

"Getting into position," he replied simply.

The students were hurled off the cliff one by one, each with their own level of enthusiasm. Yang shot her sister a grin and a wink as she equipped a pair of aviators before being launched, and Ruby offered him a supportive smile before she was tossed into the air as well.

Orville felt the mechanism click into place and the platform flipped upward, sending him flying through the air at high speed. He spared a moment to howl at the sky as adrenaline flooded his system before taking hold of the stone platform with his Semblance, keeping it aloft as he swerved around branches and leaves.

As the other initiates dipped down below the canopy, he decided to do the same, slipping down while he dodged the trees until the make-shift hoverboard touched down on the forest floor. Distant gunfire began to drift through the cathedral of greenery, and Orville figured he should hurry up and...

...come to think of it, what _was_ he supposed to do?

Further pondering on the subject was interrupted by a trio of Boarbatusks rolling toward him at ramming speed. Orville's foot crashed down onto the ground, reaching through the layer of detritus to the earth below, and three blocks of rock punched upward.

The Boarbatusks were caught totally off their guard and flung into the air, uncurling in order to regain some semblance of equilibrium. As soon as their soft underbellies were exposed, three Fire Opal needles sank deep into their jet-colored bodies and detonated, sending Grimm chunks everywhere.

Orville, who had ducked behind a tree, smirked to himself. If this was what an initiation was like, he might not have such a bad time here after all.

Once he made sure no other creatures of Grimm would roll up on him, Orville picked a direction and started walking, occasionally sending Roman invites on DustBook to play Cookie Crunch for giggles (Roman hated those). The only response had been a picture of Roman's hand flipping him the bird with a caption full of poo emojis.

Eventually, Orville ran into another student.

"Hey, Champ!" he called out when he spotted the long fiery hair of the Mistrali girl. Pyrrha spun quickly, a rifle in hand as she drew a bead on his chest. When she saw it wasn't a threat, the barrel dipped and she smiled.

"I'm glad it was you I found first," Pyrrha said, shifting her rifle into a spear form.

"Why?" Orville asked, cocking his head to the side curiously.

She gave him a strange look. "Didn't you listen to the headmaster's instructions?"

Orville snorted. "Pfft, no. I'm not very good at following directions; I just sorta go with the flow, y'know?"

Pyrrha frowned dubiously, but shrugged. "Well, everyone has their own approach, I suppose. Headmaster Ozpin said that the first person we make eye contact with after launch will be our partners for the duration of our stay at Beacon."

"Oh." Orville grinned. "Well, I'm glad, too then. It's a lot better than being stuck with sweet Edelweiss." Though she tried to hide it, Pyrrha couldn't fool Orville's excellent hearing as a chuckle escaped her mouth.

"Please don't tell her I laughed," Pyrrha pleaded, looking guilty.

"Why not? She could stand to get knocked down a few pegs, if you ask me," Orville said.

"Do you have something against her?" Pyrrha was now the curious one. "You seemed intent on irritating her this morning."

"Well someone needs to crack that icy shell of hers," Orville replied. "Otherwise, she'll never become a good Huntress. I don't particularly mind if I have to be the one to do it. Being lonely sucks."

Pyrrha's gaze sharpened as she inspected him. "What do you mean?"

"She's obviously super-lonely," Orville explained. "I figured you'd have picked up on that. Must be tough, being a Schnee, especially if she's the heir to the whole company; probably puts a lot of pressure on her."

Pyrrha didn't reply, her face scrunched up cutely as she fell into her thoughts. "I figured you were just bothering her because you fancied her or something."

"What am I, eight?" Orville snorted. "If I ever develop feelings for you, should I just tug on your ponytail to let you know?"

"I'd prefer a more romantic approach should that happen," she replied dryly, though a dusting of pink announced her embarrassment.

"Gondola ride it is," he noted. "Now, what else did Ozzie say about initiation? Is there some sort of goal, or do we just go around beating the black off Grimm 'til nightfall?"

"We're supposed to collect a relic from some ruins," Pyrrha explained. "He said they were somewhere north of us, so we should figure the cardinal points first."

"North's that way," Orville pointed behind him. Pyrrha looked askance of him, and he elaborated. "Moss is growing on that side of the trees, the wind's coming from the west, and the sun is just about overhead right now."

"You must have some extensive survival skills to be able to pick up on that so quickly," Pyrrha commented as they started heading in the direction Orville had indicated.

"Few years in the Grimmlands'll do that," he agreed off-hand. "So, what's your weapon like? We're gonna be partners for a while, or so I'm told. Might as well learn about our combat styles to see if they're compatible."

Pyrrha nodded. "I suppose that makes sense. My weapons are called Miló and Akoúo," she offered, pointing to each as it was named. "Miló can shift from a spear to a sword to a rifle, and Akoúo's edge is incredibly sharp, so I can use it as a weapon in a pinch."

Orville watched as Miló was transformed, fairly impressed at the versatility. "Do you normally use Dust rounds in the rifle?"

"I don't actually fight with the rifle function all that often," Pyrrha admitted. "Usually, the ammunition I spend is used to increase the spear's speed and distance. I'm more of a close-quarters combatant."

"Birds of a feather, you and I," Orville quipped, pulling out the Dynamic Duo. "These guys used to be more mid-range exclusive weapons before I modded them for more personal encounters."

He went on to explain his Dust crystals and how he used them, which then led into a conversation about his Semblance.

"I can handle most of what would be considered earth matter," he said, pulling a clump of dirt out of the ground and letting it float over the palm of his hand. "Dirt, mud, rock, crystals, I can dig it." With a flick of his fingers, the dirt clod shrunk, hardening into a perfectly round stone before shattering into thousands of sand particles and slipping through his fingers. "But my favorite part is that I can do the same thing with Dust."

As the last of the sand trickled off his hand, he drew sphere of Alexandrite out of its pouch.

Pyrrha's eyes widened. "That's an incredibly useful Semblance," she complimented. "And you can manipulate _any_ form of Dust?"

"Nah," Orville shook his head with a grin. "If that was the case, I'd have taken over the world by now. I can only handle raw Dust that hasn't been refined or purified in any way, just like I can only handle metal that hasn't been processed in factories or forges. Can't do a thing with cement or asphalt, either."

"Still, it's an amazing ability," Pyrrha countered. "My own Semblance deals with polarity. In some ways, it's very similar to your own in that I'm able to move metallic objects, though I can't shape it like you, only direct it."

"I can see how you became champ," Orville said. "A lot of ring-fighters use steel armor and weapons, don't they? Must make you a terror in the arena."

"Actually, I normally use my Semblance to enhance my own limitations," Pyrrha answered. "Though I'm not above redirecting or slowing down swings when I have to."

Orville smirked. "You've got some sense then. Now I'm _really_ glad I found you first." He caught sight of a cave in the cliff wall between a gap in the trees and pointed it out. "Think we should check that out?"

"Might as well," Pyrrha shrugged. They readied their weapons and cautiously approached. Orville's eyes were unable to penetrate the inky darkness that clung to the cave's interior, but his nose and ears could pick up the acrid scent of venom and clacking that could have belonged to some sort of arthropod if it had been of a lesser pitch. The cave paintings on the outside of the cavern only confirmed it.

"There's a big-ass Deathstalker in there," Orville said, matter-of-fact.

"So I surmised," Pyrrha responded.

"Wanna poke it with a stick?" Orville suggested, and Pyrrha shot him an incredulous stare.

"Are you joking?" she asked uncertainly.

Orville, who had already begun hunting for a properly-sized branch, making an _aha_ noise when he found a decent one and swished it around experimentally. "Not in the slightest. Who the hell keeps such a dangerous Grimm so close to a school? I mean, I get that training to fight these things is the whole point, but I doubt that many first years are capable of handling a fully-matured Deathstalker. It's practically our duty to dispose of it."

Pyrrha pondered his words for a moment before coming to a conclusion. "You're right," she said. "Let's do this."

"Alright, let's see..." Orville cast his senses further out as he jabbed the stick against the stone wall, searching for a weakness in the cliff side. He found several appropriate fissures that led into the cave, and slowly exerted force while whacking his branch against the rugged face. The rock protested loudly, but under the unrelenting pressure of Orville's Semblance, it eventually gave way.

The cliff seemed to implode, crashing in on itself as an avalanche of stone filled the cavern in seconds. Orville managed to push all of the debris which would have crushed him and Pyrrha off to the side so when the rumbling finally ceased, they were standing in a rough semi-circle of fallen rock.

Orville turned, giving Pyrrha a thumbs-up, but hesitated when he saw her jaw hanging down past her chin.

"That...that was..." she struggled for a moment, "How did you do that? It must have taken an incredible amount of energy!"

"Why work hard when you can work smart?" Orville argued. "I just sniffed out some cracks in the cliff and opened 'em up a little. Slow and steady wins the race, right?"

Before Pyrrha could respond, though, the sound of shrieking stone filled the air, followed by a great crash of dust and rock chips flying out of the area where the cave entrance had once been.

The pair of Hunters-in-training dove away from the positively _massive_ Deathstalker that barreled out of the rock slide like it was simply struggling to get out of the bed sheets in the morning.

It loosed a terrible, chittering screech, claws flailing and tail swaying. Orville would have gaped if his instincts hadn't taken over; it was one of the biggest Deathstalkers he'd seen, and the damned buggers could get truly huge in the Grimmlands. How the _hell_ had this thing been allowed to stay here so close to Beacon, with Vale right next to its lair?

"Think we should make a strategic retreat?" Orville asked as he dodged a claw swipe and rolled closer to Pyrrha.

"That sounds like a good idea," she agreed, and the pair turned tail and booked it. The loud crash of falling trees told them that the Deathstalker was hot on their trail, and didn't particularly care about the environment either.

Every other step, Orville would shove a row of pointed spikes into the Deathstalker's face. It didn't work as well as he'd hoped (and just what the hell was this thing's hide _made_ out of?), but the rearguard actions slowed the rampaging Grimm down just enough to keep it from snapping its tail forward to impale one of them.

He and Pyrrha burst through the treeline into a wide, open clearing. Further ahead were the ruins they were likely trying to find, while Yang and Blake stood on a grassy knoll over Ruby, who was sitting on the ground. Behind them, he could just make out large stone plinths with huge chess pieces resting calmly upon them. Looking closer, Yang and Blake each had knight pieces clutched in their hands.

The sound of wind rifling through feathers alerted him to the Nevermore before its sun-concealing shadow passed overhead, and the familiar shriek and a streamer of white near the gargantuan bird's talons almost made him do a double-take. Before he could even wonder how the hell she'd gotten up there in the first place, an Ursa crashed through the trees a little way down from the spot Orville and Pyrrha had entered the clearing before collapsing to the ground looking thoroughly defeated.

Orville realized that he probably shouldn't have been surprised when the girl from the locker rooms, Nora, leapt lightly off the dissolving creature's back, whining, "Aw, it's broken."

"Nora," panted her friend Ren as he jogged to a halt next to the decomposing corpse. " _Please_ don't ever do that again." Whether or not Nora heard was up for debate, as she'd noticed the chess pieces and started singing about queens and castles as she zipped over to them. "NORA!"

The girl, who had been balancing the rook piece she'd chosen on her head, allowed it to drop into her waiting hand before snapping to attention, "Yes, Ren?"

Orville caught Pyrrha's attention and pantomimed launching them away from their pursuer. She nodded, and he held up three fingers before dropping them steadily. When the last one fell, he yanked on the earth beneath them just like he had the Boarbatusks earlier, only he and Pyrrha had the advantage of knowing when it was coming.

The blocks of stone jutted out of the ground with enough force to propel them all the way to where the other students were slowly grouping together, leaving the Deathstalker in their dust.

Pyrrha stuck a three-point landing like the champ she was, but Orville simply dove right into the ground, using his Semblance to swim through the land before popping back up next to Yang and Blake, shaking the dirt out of his hair.

"So, how's initiation going for everyone?" he asked conversationally as he crawled out of the ground.

Yang _growled_ deep in her throat, and Orville shrank away from her; apparently even the blonde shotgun shell had a breaking point. "That's it!" she shouted as her eyes turned red and flames licked out from her hair alarmingly. "Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something else crazy happens!?"

Orville knew he should probably just shut up, but he hadn't been lying to Pyrrha when he'd said he didn't take orders well. Especially since a glance upward showed that Weiss was slowly but surely slipping off the Nevermore.

So he gathered his Aura under him once again and launched himself skyward with a, "Sorry-not-sorry!" He rocketed up toward the huge black shape above him, readying some Tiger's Eye darts, and called out, "JUMP!" as he neared the apex of his flight.

"ARE YOU CRAZY!?" the heiress shrieked back hysterically. The obvious answer was yes, in fact, he _was_ crazy. It was hard not to be when one spent any extended amount of time with the likes of Gin and Roman. But Orville didn't get the chance to reply since the Nevermore made a sudden, sharp turn that ripped Weiss right off her ride.

Luckily, she only dropped a dozen feet before she slammed into Orville, who had by then begun to fall as well, pushed back by the turbulence created by the Nevermore's passing.

"What's the plan now, hero?" Weiss snapped, eyes wide and focused on the fast approaching ground.

Orville simply grinned in response, showing her several Moonstone darts before tossing them to their estimated landing zone. They struck perfectly, creating a wide (slightly lopsided) circle that began glowing a soft, cool blue as soon as the last dart was in place.

The falling pair began to slow down significantly until they were floating back down to Remnant as gently as a feather. As soon as they were on the ground safely, Orville pulled the needles back toward him and smirked at Weiss.

"Care to criticize my rescue attempt some more, Edelweiss?" he asked, setting her on her feet. She merely huffed in annoyance and began to walk away, but paused mid-step.

"Thank you," she mumbled, not turning to meet his eyes. Orville beamed.

"That was super-heroic, Corndog," Yang said with false cheer. "Now we all get to die together!"

"Not on my watch," Ruby piped up wearing a determined smile before taking off toward the Deathstalker in a headlong charge, trailing what looked like...rose petals?...as she wound up with Crescent Rose.

She took her swing with all the force and speed of a cannonball behind her, but the Deathstalker (likely hundreds of years old and therefore more crafty than most run-of-the-mill Grimm) swiped its claw, disrupting the attack before it was fully executed. Ruby was sent skidding backwards and by the time she'd recovered, the Deathstalker was looming above her ominously.

"Ruby!" Orville hadn't noticed it was his voice that rang out with Yang's until he realized that his legs were moving, running full-tilt alongside the worried blonde as Ruby turned tail and booked it toward them.

He was never the fastest on his feet (Roman took advantage of that at every opportunity), and he had never hated that fact more than when he watched as the Nevermore pinned Ruby's cloak to the ground with a salvo of massive feathers. Several crashed down directly in his path, and in response he tore the earth apart in his effort to shove them aside.

But he still wasn't quick enough to reach Ruby in time to stop the rampaging Deathstalker just behind her. Thankfully, the pale streak that shot past him was. A pale blue glyph materialized in the air right in front of the Deathstalker and spewed forth a torrent of ice that trapped the scorpion's sting just inches from Ruby's face.

"You are _so_ childish," Weiss said through gritted teeth as she straightened from her lunge, "and dim-witted, _and_ hyperactive." She turned, pinning Ruby with a fierce scowl. "And don't get me _started_ on your fighting style." Her face softened almost imperceptibly as she continued. "And I suppose...I can be a bit," she faltered as her frown gained an embarrassed slant, " _difficult_. But if we're going to do this, we're going to do it together."

Orville was close enough to hear Yang let out a little, "D'aww, my sister's making friends!"

"So if you would quit showing off, I'll be... _nicer_." The last word seemed to cause Weiss actual physical harm.

"I'm not trying to show off," Ruby muttered, eyes downcast. "I just want to show you that I can _do_ this."

Weiss gave a put-upon sigh, but offered Ruby the faintest of smiles nonetheless. "You're fine. Now come on."

Orville waited until she was out of earshot to whisper, "I totally ship it," to Yang. The blonde grinned and sent him a thumbs-up in response before hurrying over to Ruby to check her over for injuries.

He excused himself from such an intimate family moment to inspect the Deathstalker's bindings. The Ice Dust glyph Weiss had used was much less contained than the one Winter had nailed him with, but it was definitely effective in stopping the scorpion's tail. Orville added some stone shackles to hold the beast's legs fast before clamping it down to the ground with several rocky rings around its body.

"Guys!" he called, and the others headed over with Pyrrha in the lead. "We should finish this guy off before Big Bird up there has a chance to interrupt us."

"Its hide is too strong," Ruby said. "Even Crescent Rose couldn't puncture it."

Orville's eyes darted up to the golden stinger still trapped in ice. "I've got an idea. Jammies, what's your weapon like?"

Ren took a moment to realize Orville was addressing him. "Jammies?"

"Yeah, you wore those same clothes to bed last night," Orville explained. "Keep up, man." Ren coughed into his hand awkwardly, then withdrew a pair of machine pistols with long dagger blades attached to them. "And you, Blitzen?" Judging by the bright smile, Nora liked her new nickname. She withdrew a massive hammer that seemed to have a rocket launcher embedded into the head.

"Ooh, I like it," Orville said, turning to Ren and Ruby. "Right, Jammies and Little Red, do as much damage to the base of the stinger as you can. Champ, I need you to use Akoúo to cut it free. Edelweiss, can you keep it still with like a gravity glyph? Me and Blitzen'll do the rest, but you two keep watch for that Nevermore." Blake nodded while Yang offered a lazy salute. Weiss _hmph_ 'ed, but didn't start spewing insults, so he took that as agreement.

Ren's lips thinned, but he nodded and took aim alongside Ruby, who drove the point of her scythe into the ground to counteract the recoil from her sniper rifle. Orville reinforced the stone imprisoning the Deathstalker just in time as it writhed in agony from the high-caliber shot that tore into its tail, courtesy of Crescent Rose. Ren's bullets shredded through the weakened armor further. He then leapt forward, slicing deep gouges into the chitinous exoskeleton.

As soon as he was clear, Pyrrha tossed her razor-edged shield, scoring a direct hit and chopping the stinger clean off the rest of the Deathstalker's tail.

That, however, had the unfortunate side-effect of enraging the Deathstalker into a furious frenzy. The shackles that bound its legs shattered and the rings holding it down cracked and splintered along with the black glyph beneath it. The scorpion freed itself and swung its massive armored claws back and forth, forcing the initiates to scatter. Orville, though, stood his ground as he lifted the sting in a cocoon of dirt.

With less than a second to spare before he was crushed by the Deathstalker's rampaging bulk, Orville fired the impromptu projectile directly into the creature's face. The golden point speared through the Grimm's mandibles, and its utter surprise halted it for just a moment.

Nora took the opportunity to leap forward and smash her hammer directly into the stinger's base, striking it so hard that the sting drilled straight through the creature's body and out the back, killing it instantly.

The six combatants traded triumphant looks as smiles bloomed on their faces.

"Blitzen, that was _awesome_!" Orville praised. "I've never seen anything like it!"

Nora blushed at the praise, but took it much better than Ruby had the day before. "Well, I _am_ pretty awesome," she allowed, a cheek-stretching smile on her face.

"You guys, too," Orville continued, looking at the others in turn. "Nicely done."

"Don't be modest, Corndog," Yang said, punching him in the shoulder. It was likely meant to be a friendly nudge, but it still knocked him off balance. "It was your plan."

"Anyone could have come up with something simple like that," Orville countered. "Shove the big pointy bit into its body? Yeah, real intricate plan."

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Ruby pointed out.

"Now we just need a way to deal with that," Blake interjected, eyes still on the Nevermore. It's circling back around."

"We should take cover somewhere while we come up with a plan of action," Pyrrha said, glancing around.

"Gotcha," Orville nodded, lifting his arms wide. Four large pillars rose from the ground in a square around them as dirt flowed across them to form a large pagoda-like structure low to the ground. "Now what, Champ?"

Pyrrha, looking somewhat startled, turns her gaze on him. "I was actually hoping you'd have something," she admitted awkwardly.

Orville waved his hands in front of him to ward off the responsibility. "Oh, no. I bend rocks, not wind. The only reason we were able to take out that Deathstalker so easily was because Edelweiss trapped it in the first place."

"Well, you hit it with some of your Dust when we were falling," said Weiss accusingly. "The green and brown one. What does it do?"

Ruby grinned at him. "You got it with some Tiger's Eye?"

Orville sighed, shooting Weiss a dirty look. "Yeah, I suppose I did. But definitely not enough to put the big bastard to sleep. It's movements'll be sluggish for a while, though."

"Dust that acts as a tranquilizer?" Weiss' eyes narrowed as she pinned him with an assessing stare. "I've never heard of something like that."

"I think we have more pressing matters to deal with," Ren said from his spot at the edge of the pagoda's protection. Before he even finished speaking, several pinions crashed into the roof of their shelter,two of them even piercing through before stopping. "This thing's not going to hold for much longer."

"What about the cliffs?" Ruby suggested. "If we can get to the cliffs, we might be able to get above the Nevermore and figure out a way to ground it."

"Nice thinking, Rubes," Yang ruffled her sister's hair fondly.

"Everyone, show me one of the bullets you use for your weapons," Orville said, pulling out the block of Tiger's Eye and letting it hover in front of him. With little delay he had an assortment of rounds in a variety of calibers (including a grenade from Nora), and he set to work, pulling matching rounds from the Tiger's Eye and handing them off to each of them.

"These will slow the Nevermore down," he explained. "Choose your shots wisely 'cuz I'm not gonna be giving freebies out like this all the time."

The other Initiates accepted the offering gratefully. Then he turned to Weiss and said, "You got an extra vial?" Weiss deliberated a moment before reaching into her bodice. She thrust the empty container at him, and in short order it was filled with green Dust striated with lines of brown. "I'm curious to see what kind of glyphs your Semblance'll make with that stuff."

"You'd better hope it doesn't put _me_ to sleep," she warned.

"Right," Ruby clapped to get everyone's attention. "So the cliffs are...uh..."

"That way," Orville supplied, pointing it out helpfully.

"Exactly," Ruby agreed. "The cliffs are that way, which means we need to get to the trees as fast as possible. Suggestions?"

"We could have our fastest go first out to either side as a distraction," Ren mused.

"Plausible," Blake admitted, glancing out to check on the Nevermore's position. "I can make copies of myself with my Semblance. They're short-term, but they can do the same thing going the other direction."

"Why don't we just blow it up?" Nora asked guilelessly. "Quick and easy."

"Or we could take the tunnel I just made," Orville said, gesturing to the wide hole in the ground. "It's deep enough that the feathers won't reach us, and it goes all the way past the trees. Chuckles can still do her shadow-clone thing to confuse the Nevermore and force it to focus all its attacks on an empty bunker."

Blake wasn't amused by her nickname, but seeing as how all the other ones he'd come up with involved her Faunus heritage, she'd just have to deal with it.

"Sounds like a plan," Ruby said. "Everyone agree?"

The others nodded and started heading down into the tunnel with Yang up front to provide light with her...hair. Orville waited until everyone except Blake was in before turning to her.

"So how long do your shadows last?"

"The longest I've sustained one was thirty-eight seconds," she replied.

"Have it go out then double back here," Orville said. "It'll keep the Nevermore in one place, more or less."

"Right." Blake took a steadying breath, then split apart. One Blake, more colorless than the other, shot out of the shadow of the pagoda, and an ear-piercing cry from above let them know the decoy was working. "Let's go."

They rushed down into the tunnel with a Sunstone lantern floating ahead to guide them. By the time they were back out in the open, Ruby and Nora were up in the trees taking aim at the Grimm. The others were nowhere to be seen.

"Orville, make us some ramps to get down quickly," Ruby ordered. "We're gonna grab its attention from here and take off toward the cliffs. Everyone else is waiting for us there with an ambush."

Nodding, Orville pulled up a pair of stone slides. "Anything else I can do?"

"Try to come up with something that hits hard enough to knock the Nevermore out of the sky," she answered steadily. Orville blinked; this side of Ruby was a lot more forceful than the weapons dork he'd met the day before.

"On it," he said with a nod.

He and Blake raced through the woods, trailing the others with the help of Orville's nose. A sharp report followed by a thunderous blast signified Ruby and Nora gaining their adversary's attention just as they came across a large structure built in the middle of a massive chasm that separated them from the Beacon Cliffs. Stone bridges spanned the gorge in a delicate interplay between nature and civilization, but the building was old and crumbling. Like the ruins in the forest, this was a monument to those who had come before, and Orville spent a moment marveling at the sight.

"Orville, Blake!" Yang called, waving to catch their attention. She and the others were laying in wait behind a tumble of what had probably once been walls of a guard station set next to one of the bridges. "Where's Ruby?"

"And Nora," Ren added.

"They're on their way," Orville assured them before focusing on his partner. "Champ, you said your Semblance deals with Polarity, right? Can you affect this with it?"

He held out a piece of Pyrite for her. She raised her hand, which gained a darkling luster that transfered to the metallic Dust as it rose from his palm. "Apparently so," Pyrrha commented. "What did you have in mind?"

Before he could reply, a rumbling _quork_ that sounded like thunder pierced the air, followed by the Nevermore flying toward their location with Ruby and Nora fleeing before it.

"We're gonna make fried Nevermore on a stick," Orville bit out sharply. He drew a long pole from the Pyrite block and shaped it similarly to Miló's spear mode before activating it with a powerful surge of Aura. As the make-shift javelin was wrapped in a corona of crackling electricity, he floated it out so that it was between himself and Pyrrha. The redheaded Mistrali cottoned on to his idea in a moment, and dark gray overlapped his even brown Aura.

"Three," Pyrrha said, settling into a thrower's stance even though she wasn't physically touching the spear.

"Two," Orville chimed in, bringing every ounce of focus to bear as the Nevermore approached.

"ONE!" they shouted in unison and let their projectile fly right when the Nevermore flared its wings to take aim at Ruby and Nora.

The Pyrite javelin tore through the sky, trailing a bolt of lightning as it roared across the distance. It pierced straight through the Nevemore's chest and shattered into millions of shards that ripped primary flight feathers to shreds. The airborne Grimm began to fall while witch-fire blazed across its body, and with an almighty crash it struck the ground with force enough to cause Nora and Ruby to stumble as they ran. There was a moment of breathless silence as they watched the Nevermore for signs of life, and when tendrils of smoky Grimm essence began to rise from the body all of them let out a collective sigh of relief.

Ruby slammed into Orville in a cloud of rose petals, hanging off his neck as she attempted to squeeze the life out of him. "That was _amazing_!" she squealed while Orville desperately tried to break her incredibly strong grip.

"Why aren't you strangling Pyrrha?" he gasped, and Ruby relinquished her hold on him, chuckling in embarrassment.

"Sorry," she murmured, though the massive grin on her face detracted from the apology a bit. "Still, you did it!"

" _We_ did it," Orville corrected. "Group effort and all that good stuff." He pulled out the block of Pyrite, which had shrunk down to about a third of what it had been. "Gonna have to cut back on using Pyrite for a while, though," he added mournfully.

"We make a great team," Pyrrha offered, resting a hand on Orville's shoulder, "Partner."

Orville nodded. "Hell yeah we do. Team OP, for the win! We'll call that our finishing move, Greased Lightnin'."

"You'll have to start stocking up on Pyrite, then," she said with a smile.

"We should head to the cliffs before we run into any other Grimm," said Ruby, whose smile had gained an oddly strained quality.

Orville coughed, glancing at Pyrrha. "We might need to go back and get relics really quick, though..."

Ruby's expression blanked before she smacked herself in the forehead. "Oh, man. I can't _believe_ we forgot about that!"

* * *

Orville stood next to the other initiates upon the stage in the auditorium while the rest of the student body watched on as they were split up into teams by the headmaster. After that run-in with a pair of giant Grimm, he really wished the gray-haired man would just _hurry it up already_. He was about dead on his feet after expending so much Aura, and though they were given a meal after they'd returned to the cliffs all he really wanted was to find a nice soft bit of ground and curl up for a nice kip.

Unfortunately, Ozpin seemed to enjoy drawing out his words in a low, lazy drawl as he called out the first-years' names.

"Cardin Winchester," he intoned with all the speed of a runaway snail. "Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark, Russel Thrush. You retrieved the Black Bishop pieces. From now on, you shall work together as Team CRDL, led by Cardin Winchester."

The four guys walked off the stage as Ozpin continued. "Orville Doyle, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos." They stepped forward, falling into parade-rest when they halted a few feet away from their headmaster as instructed. Well, Orville's parade-rest involved his hands resting firmly on his hips, but it was close enough. If Ozpin had any problem with the breach in protocol, it didn't show on his passive expression. "You retrieved the White Rook pieces. From this day forth, you shall work together as Team ORNP, led by Orville Doyle."

Nora clapped happily before glomping Ren. Pyrrha beamed at Orville, who kept his face in a vague smirk while his heart plummeted. Not only was he now officially in a Hunter Academy (entirely against his will), but he'd also be responsible for these three. Admittedly, it could have been worse, but he didn't exactly feel too comfortable in a position of power.

He was a lone wanderer by nature, and when he _did_ feel the need to team up he preferred it to be an equal partnership, rather than one being beholden to the other. His friendships with Roman and Gin were a testament to that, and to suddenly have a team to guide really grated on his nerves.

Well, it wasn't like he could change any of this, short of going to Ozpin and ratting himself out. And with his luck, the old bastard would probably end up strong-arming him into serving as a double agent against this Cinder bitch.

He and the rest of Team Orange Peel (and God, the name was almost worse than the situation) made way for the last quartet, and his forced expression melted into a more genuine smile as he passed Ruby, giving the nervous girl a thumbs-up.

"Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee," Ozpin said. "You retrieved the White Knight pieces. Henceforth, you shall work together as Team RWBY, led by Ruby Rose."

The poor thing looked about as shocked that she'd been chosen for leader as Weiss looked furious. Yang gathered her sister up in a bear hug that'd put most Ursai to shame, and the newly-minted Team RWBY joined them behind the curtains while Ozpin wrapped up.

"Nice work scoring leader," Orville said, pressing his fist against Ruby's shoulder bracingly.

"You, too," Ruby replied, looking like she'd be sick to her stomach. "I just hope I'm up to it."

"Ah, you'll do great," Orville grinned reassuringly. "Besides, it was fate that you'd be team leader; Ruby, RWBY? Can't be coincidence."

That seemed to perk her up, and she gave him a quick hug as thanks. Orville fought the frown that threatened to come to his face. She was becoming awfully friendly after only a couple days of knowing him.

In short order, the new teams were assigned dormitories and offered scrolls programmed to act as keys to their rooms. As it happened, Team RWBY and Team ORNP were dorm neighbors, and after bidding the all-female team goodnight, Orville unlocked the door and entered.

It was decently proportioned for its purpose, with white walls and red carpeting. It was furnished with a bed, a desk, and a chair for each of them, and their individual luggage was set at the foot of the beds. Orville's lips thinned when he spotted his own meager pile of black trash bags and silently cursed Roman for what had to be the hundredth time that day.

"Should we get everything sorted now?" Pyrrha asked, moving to her own baggage.

"You do you," Orville said. He headed to his own bed and flopped down bonelessly. "I'm hittin' the hay. Sleep tight, Team Orange Peel."

Two minutes later, Orville cracked his eyes open and frowned at Nora, who was singing (loudly) to herself as she put away her things. He glanced toward Ren, who simply smirked at him while pointing at the bright orange ear-plugs he'd shoved into his ears before crawling into his own bed.

"Probably shouldn't have done that sloth impression," Orville realized. It seemed like Ren could hold a grudge. Sighing, Orville reached down and jabbed himself with a Tiger's Eye dart. His last pessimistic thought before conking out was that he'd probably be doing that a lot more often.

* * *

 **After-Action Report:** This was originally going to be two different chapters, but I didn't want to disappoint anyone with such short chapters after the first ended up being 10k+. This one still fell about two thousand words short, but it's better than a couple 4k updates, right?

So now you know that Orville has taken Jaune's place as leader of Team JNPR, or ORNP now. And yes, I could have gone with Team PORN but I am above such trite foolishness. I could have also done their last initials and got LVND (Lavender), but I've seen that one a few too many times already in the fandom when Jaune's cut out of the JNPR picture. Plus, I like oranges.

Speaking of Jaune, though, he's going to show up likely in the next chapter, and we'll see just how different big, bad Huntsman Jaune Arc is. I bet a few people will be able to figure out what the deal is once he appears, since it's not exactly that difficult. I'm a poor author who relies heavily on those who have come before me. If you don't like it, tough teats.

We also got to see Moonstone, Tiger's Eye, and Pyrite in action. If it seems like Orville's a little over-powered, it's 'cause he is, and there is a definite reason for that. When Jaune and his replacement meet for the first time, things will become much clearer.

I don't think there's much else. Anything I failed to address can be brought up in a review or PM, and if you want a reply to a question, please log in so I can message you back. I'm starved for human interaction, even if it's over the Interwebz.

Anyways, have a great day!


	3. We Don't Need No Education

**Author's Note:** So here's the third chapter. Before you get into this one, I'd like you to understand something about me: I'm terrible at sticking to a story. If you'd checked my others, you would see that there are a few which I haven't updated in a few years. Sometimes my muse just leaves me high and dry with no warning. They're not on hiatus; I do try and wring out a few words every now and then, but life has a way of fucking things up, you know?

Anyway, this chapter's a lot shorter than the last two. Sorry if you enjoyed the length (and girth) of my updates, I just felt like I'd reached a good stopping point. So...enjoy!

 **Disclaimer** and **Warning** still apply from the first chapter.

* * *

Chapter 3: We Don't Need No Education

* * *

Orville woke up feeling groggy and out of sorts. He wondered for a moment if he'd been drinking again before the events of the previous day came rushing back to him. Tiger's Eye was an awful sleep aid, and he knew that he was going to have to invest in ear-plugs like Ren, or at least some noise-cancelling headphones if he wanted any chance of finding any proper rest in the same room as Nora.

An interesting tugging sensation distracted him, and he opened his eyes to find the she-devil in question leaning over him with the biggest smile he'd ever seen on her face. "Good morning, sleepy head!" she chirped in an annoyingly chipper tone. Her eyes darted down to her hands, and the pulling began again.

It took his addled mind a second to realize that she was yanking on his hair, and he struggled to rise, fighting a yawn.

Something felt weird about his hair, but his first concern was the girl who had taken it upon herself to wake him up while sitting at the top of his bed. "Guh, whazza 'ell?" he grumbled, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"Your hair and Renny's hair is so much alike," Nora explained, "except yours is a little wavier, and he doesn't let me braid his."

Orville blinked, glancing toward Ren, who was still totally dead to the world. Then he turned to Pyrrha, who like Nora was already up and dressed. The Mistrali girl tried to hide it, but there was a tiny, amused smile struggling to break out, and when she caught his eye it won the fight.

"I think," Pyrrha began, coughing to hide a chuckle, "I think it makes you look dashing, Orville."

Hesitantly, Orville raised his hands to his head, where his hair had been pulled up into at least half a dozen braids of various sizes and styles. The largest, which went down his back, had a fish-scale braid, while another on the left side had been coiled up after braiding to look like a bun.

He leveled a glare at Nora, who didn't seem bothered at all. "I've got so many _ideas_ , Glorious Leader," she gushed, reaching up for the half-twisted braid hanging directly over his face. "I'm _super_ glad we're on the same team!"

Trying to keep his temper in check, Orville grasped Nora's wrists before she could grab hold of his hair again. "Listen, Blitzen," he said as calmly as he could. "I... _appreciate_ your willingness to invade my personal space while I'm asleep, but next time, I'd like to be conscious and consenting before you do anything to my hair."

"What about now?" Nora's innocent smile beat against his righteous indignation, which held for a moment before shattering into bits and pieces. Why the hell was it so hard to be mad at this girl?

Orville reached across her to where his scroll was sitting on the bedside table and checked the time. "I'd love to, really I would, but I need to start getting ready for the day. Maybe you could wake Ren up for me so he can hop in the shower when I'm done?"

Nora leapt to her feet to stand at attention, shoes on his pillow, and saluted. "Aye, sir!" she barked before jumping from Orville's bed to Ren's, landing on the slumbering boy like a leopard pouncing on an unsuspecting gazelle. Feeling a certain level of vindictive pleasure at Ren's startled cry of dismay, Orville rifled through one of the bags that served as his luggage and pulled out some underclothes before heading into the shower.

As the warm spray gushed from the faucet, Orville began to pull out the elastic bands trapping his hair. He'd have to get into contact with Roman soon to figure out exactly what information the big boss would require. It was all well and good to stay low-profile during the first day and initiation, but now that he was an official student at Beacon he'd need to start discharging that debt owed to the idiot so he could start figuring out a way to get him away from Cinder's clutches.

The only issue with that was he had no idea _who_ Cinder was or how to even deal with the plethora of problems she represented. There was a sort of tension at the back of his mind whenever he thought of the woman who, from Roman's account, was as dangerous as an oncoming horde of Grimm. It troubled him greatly, and he knew in his bones that Roman's warning wasn't a lie (like about eighty percent of what normally spewed from the ginger's mouth).

Orville finished rinsing himself off and toweled off before heading back into the room proper, ready to settle his belongings in.

Ren, who was by that point looking halfway awake, shot him an impressive stink-eye. "Morning, PJ," Orville offered with a smile he tried copying from Nora. Judging by the unimpressed frown it wasn't quite up to par. "Shower's all yours."

"Thanks," Ren muttered, passing him on his way to the bathroom. "Your uniforms are in the closet."

Orville froze, unsure if he'd heard properly. "Uniforms?"

Ren raised a tired eyebrow. "It's a Hunter Academy; just about all of them have a uniform except for Shade in Vacuo." His eyes gained a slightly intrigued shine as he looked at Orville, but shook it off and continued on his way to the shower.

Running to the closet marked with his name, Orville ripped open the doors and found five pristine uniforms hanging menacingly before him. "Is wearing them mandatory?" he asked in a small voice that couldn't have belonged to him.

"During class, yes," Pyrrha offered, sounding confused by his distress. "But the handbooks says we can customize them within reason."

Orville's shoulders slumped in relief. "Okay," he said. "Okay, I can work with this." He pulled the first uniform out, grimacing at the sight of a necktie of all things, before rummaging around in his utility belt's auxiliary pockets and pulling out a sewing kit.

He got to work quickly, outlining a pattern on the back of the suit jacket in his mind. Then he got to work, pulling a yellow thread that matched his shirt in and out of the cloth as quickly as he could. It was already seven-fifty, and if he wasn't mistaken classes started at around nine.

"What are you doing?" Pyrrha asked curiously. He glanced up to find her standing at his shoulder a respectful distance away, watching the needle's progress. Orville had to admit she looked incredibly fetching in the uniform, but there wasn't a damn force on Remnant that could make him wear such a travesty without modifications.

"Changing the uniform," he explained. "Uniforms are just another form of shackles, and I'll be damned if I get chained up again." He would have missed the widening of emerald orbs if he hadn't been trying to sneak a look at her legs from the corner of his own eye.

"You...really do dislike authority, don't you?" Pyrrha murmured, likely remembering their talk in the forest the day before.

Orville snorted, "That's an understatement. I hate it, and now I'm a team leader so you can imagine how I feel about _that_."

"Why did you even come to Beacon in the first place, then?" Nora asked, hopping from bed to bed.

"Lost a bet," Orville groused, keeping his pace as steady as possible.

"You lost a bet...and got into Beacon," Pyrrha sounded thoroughly baffled. "So you don't want to even be here?"

"Well, not in the traditional sense," Orville admitted, tying off the end of the first part of his uniform's new addition before switching to a silvery thread. "I never thought I'd be at a Hunter school, but now that I'm here and team leader to boot I feel sort of obligated to stay, you know? I don't wanna let you guys down just 'cuz I get uncomfortable in a uniform." As he began to weave again, he shot the redhead a grin. "Plus, there's so many amazing women around I'd have to be an idiot to leave."

There was silence for a while, broken only by the sound of creaking springs as Nora got in her morning exercise. Ren exited the bathroom fully dressed, and looked at Orville's project in surprise.

"That's an impressive chain stitch," Ren offered after studying the embroidery.

"Thanks," Orville spared the other boy a smile. "Learned it from an old friend. How'd you recognize it?"

Ren jerked his head toward Nora, who had apparently finished bed-surfing and was currently drawing something. "Nora's combat style leaves a lot of torn blouses and skirts, and she considers sewing to be boring and hard."

Orville offered his teammate a sympathetic look as he finished off the last of his pattern. He'd continue to embellish his uniforms later, but he _did_ have to wear this one. A gold dog-print upon the silvery shattered moon shone proudly against the black of the coat. He switched out the plain white dress shirt for his flannel, forgoing the blue vest and necktie altogether, and left the coat unbuttoned. "Think it'll pass muster?" Orville asked the others.

"I suppose it's close enough," Pyrrha said, holding the offensive piece of cloth out. "You _do_ need to wear the tie, though. Policy."

A commotion from across the hall made Orville and the others rush to the door. Ruby and the others were scrambling down the corridor, and Orville asked, "Where's the fire?"

"We're going to be late for class!" Ruby wailed in distress. Orville checked his scroll and found that it was almost nine.

"Aw, _shit_! Orange Peel, assemble!" he shouted, shoving his team out the door before following as quickly as he could, making sure Pyrrha dropped the disgusting tie in the rush.

* * *

The first class of the day, Grimm Studies with Professor Peter Port, was about as lively as a funeral for Orville. It wasn't so much that the teacher was a long-winded bag of hot air (which he _totally_ was), but the underlying principles the man was trying to convey through the story were things he was already aware of. He found the idea of the lesson within an anecdote to see who was paying attention kind of underhanded and sneaky (two of his favorite qualities), though. Plus, that Double-Headed Battle Blunderbuss hanging over the chalkboard seemed like too awesome a weapon for the type of blustery fool Port was trying to make himself out to be.

Weiss' blow-up and subsequent fight against a Boarbatusk was mildly more entertaining, if only because the rest of Team RWBY seemed to be trying their hardest to distract the heiress.

Next was Combat Class with Glynda Goodwitch, though the first day was simply a chance for her to let them know the rules of engagement while within the arena. Orville studied the fighting pit warily, noting that the cobblestones weren't actually stone but an intricate mix of cement and several different varieties of Dust which would strengthen the floor. He'd have to figure a work-around if he ever came up against one of the other seven students he'd fought beside the day before.

After that was History of Remnant class with the fast-talking, hyper-caffeinated Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck. Orville at least figured he'd be able to stay awake during lectures since he'd have to focus all his attention on the motor-mouthed teacher just to understand him.

The last class of the day, Grimmland Survival, was one the others had been excited about for some reason or other. He hadn't really bothered listening in on the chatter because he'd been molars-deep in a triple-bacon cheeseburger at the time. The class name also left Orville feeling particularly underwhelmed, since it sounded just like a normal day for him up until Roman's bitch-ass had shoehorned him into the role of a spy.

"I bet you'll find this class fairly simple," Pyrrha said conversationally as they headed off to the room it was being held in. "What with you having lived in the Grimmlands for a while."

Before he could answer, Nora leapt onto his shoulders and leaned right up into his personal space. "Wow, you lived outside the Kingdoms, too?" she exclaimed, only just avoiding rupturing his eardrums. "Which village? Which outpost? Maybe we were neighbors!"

"None," Orville answered as he slipped out of Nora's grasp (with a little help from Ren, who seemed to be permanently running interference for the excitable girl). "I just sorta wandered around. It was fun."

Ren's eyes narrowed slightly. "Fun," he repeated flatly. "You call traipsing about in the middle of enemy territory 'fun'?"

Orville shrugged. "What can I say? All I had to worry about out there was Grimm and the bare necessities. In the Kingdoms, you have to deal with rent and taxes, not to mention how entitled and bigoted folks in the cities always seem to be."

"So what's it like, then, being all alone in the Grimm-infested wilderness?" Nora asked, still uncomfortably close as she bobbed and weaved around Ren's attempts at wrangling her.

"Peaceful," Orville murmured, glancing out a passing window and wishing he could be out there again without all of the responsibilities that kept being piled upon him by what felt like the hour. "Simple."

Nora didn't seem to like that answer. "What about the danger and chaos? Isn't it like that sometimes?"

"Sometimes," he allowed, giving her a small grin even as he rolled his eyes. "Most of the time, though, it's just calm. You'd probably find it super-lame."

Team ORNP stepped into the class and took seats near the middle of the room next to RWBY, who were already seated. Yang and Blake were positioned as a buffer between their leader and Weiss, who still seemed to be upset about her sloppy performance against the Boarbatusk.

"How's your day been?" Orville asked as he dropped into the chair next to Ruby.

"Awful," she whimpered, pulling her hood over her head in a protective (if futile) gesture as she slumped against the desk. "Weiss hates me, Blake won't share her notes from Professor Port's lecture, and Yang took away my cookies."

"I've told you a dozen times that a plate full of chocolate chip cookies _aren't_ a good lunch," Yang sighed in exasperation from Ruby's other side. "You'll never grow if you don't eat right."

"Seafood is good for that," Orville suggested, hoping Ruby didn't have as much of an attachment to fish as she did bunnies. "And beef, too. Can't go wrong with a good steak." Yang shot him a grateful look as Ruby nodded in reluctant acceptance. "Cheer up, Little Red. It's the last class of the day, at least we have that to look forward to."

Ruby cheered up marginally, and Orville chalked it up as a win. Before they could trade any more words, the door leading to the teacher's office opened and a tall, blonde man strode out toward the speaker's podium. His hair looked like he ran his hand through it several times a minute it was such a mess, but the eyes were clear and blue as a mid-summer's sky. His pale gray breastplate peeked out from under a navy blue trench coat, while matching pauldrons and gauntlets adorned his shoulders and arms. Simple sneakers and blue jeans finished off the ensemble. At his hip was a simple longsword, no bells or whistles in sight, sheathed in a white scabbard bordered in gold.

Orville frowned, trying to remember where he'd seen this guy, but he needn't have bothered. All around the room, students were whispering and muttering among themselves about how _the_ Jaune Arc would be teaching them and Orville's mind went back to the airship ride to Beacon and the news report about the prodigious Huntsman. His posture was impeccable, making his height seem even more impressive, and he carried himself with the sort of lethal grace that Orville had only ever seen in a few impossibly dangerous people.

The aura of professionalism was promptly ruined when Jaune slumped his shoulders a bit and offered the class a goofy smile. "Hey, everyone. I'm Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, and rolls off the tongue; ladies love it."

"You can roll off my tongue anytime, lady-killer," Yang muttered to herself, eyeing the teacher like Blake ogling that tuna at lunch.

" _Yang_ ," Ruby whispered, sounding scandalized, but her sister wasn't the only one; across the room, several other girls (and one of the CRDL guys) giggled coyly at the dumb introduction.

Orville couldn't quite believe how such a lame line like that would work on _anyone_ , let alone Yang. She presented herself as a bit of a tease, but definitely didn't seem as shallow as some might be led to believe. Then again, Orville had been wrong before...

"Anyway," Arc continued, clearing his throat. "This class is called Grimmland Survival, and I'm sure most of you will be able to figure out what I'll be teaching." He pressed a button on the podium, and a large map descended over the chalkboard which depicted Remnant. "That, if you didn't already know, is the world we live on," the professor said, chuckling weakly at his own joke. "This," he continued, pressing another button which highlighted five large bits on four of the continents and hundreds of smaller portions scattered near the big glowing lights, "is all the land that Man and Faunus have been able to secure."

He left the podium then, pointing to the capital cities. "Those are the Four Kingdoms which have withstood the test of time, and the smaller lights are settlements and villages beyond them." Turning to face the class again, Arc pointed then to the rest of the map. "And everything else, from the seas to the skies to the very land itself, belong to the Grimm."

The slightly stupid look was gone from the professor's face, replaced by something more apprehensive. "We've managed to carve out little pieces of safety over the centuries, but the sad fact is that we have less than thirty percent of the available land to live upon while the creatures of Grimm are spread out across the rest. They have all that space while we sit, huddled behind our walls in fear.

"My job is to show you how to stay alive in the most hostile environment known to us." Sapphire eyes seemed to pierce each student one by one as they swept across the room. Orville thought Arc's gaze might have lingered on him for just a little bit longer than the others, but it could have just been his paranoia acting up.

There was a moment of silence as the class digested the professor's opening statement. Orville had to admit, it was a pretty good one. He'd allowed such thoughts to creep up on him sometimes at night, but half of the reason his smuggling operation thrived was because most people simply weren't equipped to survive out there so he let them slip away in the twilight of wakefulness and sleep.

"Now," Arc said, his face regaining the amiability from before. "Has anyone ever actually _been_ out in the Grimmlands before?" Most of the class raised their hands, and the teacher nodded. "Yes, I suppose you all would be at least have a passing familiarity with the Enemy's territory during your time at the Hunter prep schools. How about this: How many of you have spent more than a month out there?"

All the hands dropped. Orville stubbornly refused to raise his hand like a good little schoolboy, but Nora took it upon herself to wave hers frantically about in the air. "Ooh, ooh, Professor Arc, Professor Arc! Ooh, ooh!"

An oddly affectionate smile pulled on Arc's lips as he nodded toward her. "Yes, Ms. Valkyrie?"

"My Glorious Leader, Orville's _lived_ in the Grimmlands!" Nora boasted proudly, smacking his shoulder with the sound and force of a thunderclap.

Orville shot a dirty glare at an oblivious Nora, who leaned down and whispered, "I got your back."

As he turned back, Orville found himself pinned by a cobalt stare that seemed to reach down to the very core of his soul. Those eyes seemed ageless and ancient at once, which was stupid since Arc was his own age more or less.

"Is that so?" Arc said, a crease forming between his eyes. "Tell us, Mr..." The professor glanced down at the roll sheet (which was weird since he hadn't done so before addressing Nora), "...Doyle? How long did you spend in the untamed wilds?"

"A while," Orville returned obstinately. Arc wasn't amused by his cheek, and raised an unimpressed eyebrow. Orville took the challenge with an arched brow of his own, adding a waggle for emphasis.

Rather than allow the cold war of facial tics to continue, Pyrrha spoke up. "He told me he was in the Grimmlands for a few years, Professor," she said with an apologetic smile.

Arc humored Pyrrha with a smile full of gentle rebuke. "Not all that people say is truth, Ms. Nikos. It's likely that your team leader was boasting in order to impress you."

"Fuck you, you glorified piece of Grimm-bait!" snapped Orville, rising so fast his chair thunked up against the next row of seats behind him. Gasps rose from the rest of the class. He felt Ruby tugging desperately on his sleeve while Pyrrha elbowed him none-too-lightly in the leg from the other side, but he wasn't going to take this from someone like Arc. "I've spent more time out there than you _ever_ will! I _thrived_ in the Grimmlands for almost nine damn years, and I don't much enjoy you treating that accomplishment like a participation trophy!"

There was a moment of ringing silence as Arc held Orville's furious glare with an even expression before smiling lightly. It threw Orville off, allowing Ruby and Pyrrha to combine their efforts and pull him back down into his seat. "So about eight years, then? I'm impressed, Mr. Doyle; that takes a whole lot of doing."

Orville realized too late that Arc had purposely made that jab at his pride, knowing it would get a rise out of him. "You son of a bitch," he said, voice hollow.

Arc's smile widened. "I'll take that as the compliment it was intended as, and ask you to kindly not refer to me as Grim-bait; we wouldn't want to jinx it, now would we?" Then he turned to the class. "Which brings me to my first lesson: reading people. Can anyone tell me what just happened?" Unsurprisingly, Weiss' hand rose. "Ms. Schnee?"

"You played the mutt like a fiddle," Weiss replied primly, though she ruined it by shooting Orville a smug smirk that made the hair on his upper ears bristle indignantly. "Somehow, you realized that he wouldn't be forthcoming with an answer and responded accordingly by forcing his hand."

"Very good," Arc complimented, and Weiss _preened_ under the attention. "Do you know _how_ I knew?" Weiss hesitated, unsure, and Arc waved her off. "It's fine if you don't; even the most perceptive individuals might have a difficult time getting a good fix on Mr. Doyle here. I simply have had quite a bit of time to practice.

"My first clue was that Mr. Doyle didn't raise his hand when I asked my initial question, which led me to believe he might be either shy, humble, or simply unwilling to divulge any facts about his life," Arc explained. "When he didn't react to the second question either, his body language indicated that my first two assumptions were wrong, but the third might still be true. His expressions when Ms. Valkyrie took it upon herself to indulge me, while incredibly amusing, were also highly informative. Rather than betrayal, he showed annoyance; that told me that he wasn't too hung up on his teammate's outburst. Finally, the fact that he immediately went up against a teacher on the first day of classes told me that it wasn't that he was unwilling to share, but rather that he had a problem with authority figures. Ms. Nikos simply gave me an easy way to test my theory by playing upon Mr. Doyle's pride. Anyone who can last even one year in the Grimmlands would treat such as a huge accomplishment, and rightly so; for someone to have spent multiple years there meant that they would hold such a feat in high regard."

Orville kept his expression neutral, but he felt almost ( _almost_ ) impressed by the teacher's casual break-down and analysis of Orville's behavior. Even Gin sometimes couldn't gauge him like Arc had, and the old bastard had practically _raised_ Orville. The man was either insanely insightful or had a Semblance that aided him in deduction, maybe some form of telepathy.

When that thought entered his mind, he immediately decided to test the theory. He waited until Arc's eyes were upon him again before flooding his consciousness with images of coitus and other acts of intense physical pleasure, hoping to get some sort of indication of mind-reading. Alas, Arc failed to even bat an eyelash, instead bowing his head slightly.

"Forgive me for turning you into an example, Mr. Doyle," the blonde haired jerk said, eyes full of earnest contrition. "I hope you'll forgive me for putting your business to the forefront of my class."

"Not like I really care that much," Orville hedged, folding his arms and glaring back defiantly. "It's your class; you do you."

"I appreciate it," Arc said, again flashing the smile which was quickly becoming infuriating for Orville. "Now, allow me to explain exactly why being able to understand people, both individually and collectively, is relevant to Grimmland Survival..."

Orville vindictively tuned the teacher out, hoping the blue-eyed bastard wouldn't call on him again. He whiled away the class sketching himself maiming the good professor in progressively more sadistic and complicated ways.

He looked up from his pendulum blade Goldberg machine trap when the bell rang, and began to follow Pyrrha out the door when the teacher's voice called out, "Mr. Doyle, would you kindly see me down here, please?"

Yang let out an amused, "Ooooh, Orville's in _trouble_ ," as she passed, and Orville nudged her shoulder playfully.

"You're just jealous that I get some alone time with the teach," Orville shot back.

Surprisingly, it was Blake who reacted to that statement, her face flushing an astonishingly fetching shade of red as she brushed past them. They both watched her go, trading startled looks before Yang's face cracked into an evil smirk.

"I'm gonna go milk _that_ for whatever it's worth," she said, punching him in the shoulder. "Good luck, Corndog; hope you don't get detention on the first day!"

Sighing, Orville watched her go for a moment before walking down the steps to the open area at the front of the room where Arc was waiting.

"So what do you want?" Orville asked bluntly.

"Not one to mince words, I see," Arc nodded. "Alright, then. I just wanted to apologize again for putting you in the spotlight like that. I understand that some people don't like being the center of attention."

"You already said you were sorry," Orville said. "What do you _really_ want?"

Arc's lips twitched like he wanted to smirk. "I should stop underestimating you; very quick on the up-take. Tell me, Mr. Doyle...how did you end up in Beacon Academy?"

"Happenstance, meddling jerks, and a whole lot of dumb luck," Orville replied evenly. He wasn't going to give Arc anything to work with. "And you? You don't strike me as the type to want to teach."

"True enough," Arc admitted, leaning against the desk behind him. "Do you know the purpose of a Hunter?"

"To kill Grimm," Orville answered immediately. "To make sure people are happy and feel safe so Cascades don't happen. To make life a little less shitty for everyone else at their own expense."

His answer seemed to surprise Arc, if the twin raised eyebrows were any indicator. "You're a very interesting person, Mr. Doyle, did you know that?"

Orville snorted. "I try to be as uninteresting as I can be, but it never seems to work. You got any tips?"

Arc chuckled unhappily. "I'm afraid I'm about as good at avoiding attention as you are; any of my tips are likely to get you splashed all across the news." He turned those deep blue eyes on Orville once more. "Things are happening in Vale, Orville. Things that can and will end in the complete annihilation of any semblance of safety for Human and Faunus. I'm here because Beacon is somehow at the eye of the storm, and I intend to do everything in my power to stop it. I'd like it if we were on the same page."

Orville scowled deeply; another one wanting to use him. "And what exactly do you think I can contribute to any world-saving schemes?" he asked skeptically.

This time, Arc did smirk, an expression that seemed entirely out of place on the teacher's chiseled features. "You are something entirely new, Orville Doyle, something completely and utterly unique. I've seen your transcripts, and I can tell a forgery when I see one. Ozpin knows as well, but he allowed you to stay after your impressive showing during Initiation. I don't quite know who's side you're on, but I do know that you seem to genuinely want to protect your team and your friends in Team RWBY. That's enough for me, for now."

"I'm not going to be your flunky, if that's what you're asking," Orville said stubbornly.

"I would never presume to ask that," Arc assured, raising his hands in an appeasing manner. "Your attitude concerning authority is very obvious; by the way, I really like the embroidery on your jacket."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Orville deadpanned.

Arc laughed a genuine belly-laugh. "Look, just think of me as an associate or a partner. We _are_ basically the same age after all. If I come up with something pertinent to my investigation, I'll call you and ask if you'd like to join me. You can refuse and I won't hold it against you, simple as that."

"Simple as that, huh?" Orville parroted thoughtfully. The truth was, Arc's offer was exactly what he'd needed. If Arc was looking into strange happenings in Beacon and Vale, the odds were good that they were linked in some way with Cinder. Orville had been wracking his brain trying to come up with anything to figure out what she up to, and Arc just waltzes in and places a solution square into his lap.

It caused Orville's gut to churn uneasily. The likelihood of this was astronomical; it couldn't be coincidence. But it was the best lead he had at the moment, and if anything better came along he'd drop Arc like a bad habit.

"Fine," Orville finally spoke, holding out his personal scroll. "I'll take you up on this 'partnership', Arc."

"We're partners now, Orville," the teacher beamed as he bumped his own scroll into Orville's, wirelessly exchanging contact information. "Call me Jaune."

* * *

 **After-Action Report:** And there we have it. No action, but we do get an introduction to Professor Jaune Arc. His appearance is based on Jaune's outfit in the marvelous fanfic _Professor Arc_ , by one Coeur Al'Aran, but in this story he is actually competent and not, in fact, faking his way through the whole thing. He also won't be a student counselor.

We get a little Orange Peel bonding session at the beginning, but it'll take a while for them to really get comfortable with each other. Nora, being Nora, will be the main catalyst in changing Orville's perception of being the leader of the team. Pyrrha has already thrown her lot in with Orville, and Ren sees how (grudgingly) kindly he treats Nora, which goes a long way in Ren's books.

Intelligent people (or really, anyone with a couple brain cells to rub together) will already know just what's up with Jaune. I won't spell it out in case someone doesn't get it, but it's pretty obvious, I think. Orville doesn't really trust Jaune for a few reasons. The first is he's already wary of people using him because of Roman's scheming; if he can't trust one of his only friends then he definitely won't do so with Jaune. Another is that he's a little paranoid, which is reasonable seeing how he was a smuggler for over half his life.

Anything I forgot to mention or failed to address here can be brought up in a review or PM, and I'll do my level best to get back at you. Until next time, have a great day!


	4. Another One Bites the Dust

**Author's Note:** And here's another one. I'd like to point out, to those who use the Desktop version of this site that the new cover art was done by yours truly! I know it really kind of sucks (I used Microsoft Paint and some Google images as reference), but it's mine, and I'm fucking proud of it. The image itself is Orville's symbol, a gold dog-print over Remant's shattered silver moon. So now you can actually picture it when I (rarely) bring it up.

 **Disclaimer** and **Warning** still apply from chapter one.

* * *

Chapter 4: Another One Bites the Dust

* * *

The next couple of weeks were quite the eye-opener for Orville. For one thing, he'd never really had a formal education. When his parents were still alive, he learned from a collection of elder Faunus with the other children of White Fang members. It was there he learned his letters and sums, and even some history. After their death, Orville was treated to a rough few months learning from the School of Hard Knocks, but that too had been informative. He'd learned the importance of misdirection and quick thinking, how to read a person's intentions on their face or body language, and other less wholesome skills.

Once Gin took him under his wing, Orville truly began to learn. The old smuggler taught him how life in the Kingdoms truly worked and the best ways to exploit the system, survival skills that most seasoned Hunters would give their left arm for, and most importantly, how to eke out every last drop of enjoyment from living.

("The world sucks, Kid," Gin would tell him. "It wants you to be sad and depressed; you gonna do what the world wants?" The answer was always an emphatic NO!)

After Gin retired and Orville set out on his own, he learned through trail and error. Thankfully, he had a solid foundation to build upon by that point and was able to handle anything that came his way be it Grimm or otherwise.

Here, though, in the structured environment of education honed and perfected by years of tradition, Orville felt stifled. The scheduled classes, the rules and regulations, even the damned _uniform_ , all combined to form a cage that he'd been shoved unceremoniously into, and it was his own loyalty to Roman which acted as the lock. Almost any enthusiasm he might have had for learning what the teachers offered at Beacon was tainted by the ever-present bars at the back of his mind.

Orville was just lucky his team and RWBY (well, Ruby and Yang anyway) acted as a sort of balm that soothed the ache of injustice and healed his chafed pride. It had taken him a while, but he was finally ready to admit that he had some new friends.

Friends who, at that moment, were cheering him on as he stepped down toward the fighting pit in Combat class. Nora, Yang, and Ruby were all waving gold pennants bearing his name in black (as stylish as they were, he wondered where they'd gotten the damn things in the first place).

"Cardin Winchester and Orville Doyle, please make your way down to the arena," Goodwitch called out the next bout.

While spending the first week or so getting acclimated to the new environment, Orville had kept a sharp eye on everyone in the vicinity. The majority of his fellow students were easy enough to get along with, but team CRDL was another story. Their leader in particular had to be the single most despicable creature he'd had the misfortune of encountering, and Orville had come across a whole heap of shitty things in his life.

The armor-clad student was also fairly handy with that mace of his. No matter what he thought of Cardin's personality, Orville couldn't fault the guy's prowess in battle. The red Dust crystal at the center empowered the black flanges even more than Cardin's exceptional strength already did, and probably more besides. It was likely Winchester's Semblance dealt with enhancing his physical might, though Orville wouldn't put it past anyone to hide their trump card.

Therefore, as Orville and Cardin entered the arena, Orville palmed a tiny pin made of Tiger's Eye and slapped the taller boy on the ass, right at the spot where his thigh armor didn't quite reach. It wouldn't be enough to put him to sleep, but it would make him sluggish and uncoordinated and that was all Orville needed.

"Let's get out there and show some hustle, Baby Bird!" he said with a jocular grin.

Cardin glared at him in response, lip curling in disgust. "I don't swing that, way, Doyle. And even if I did, which as I said I'm _not_ , I'd never lower myself to rut with an _animal_ like you."

Orville tried for a disappointed look. "Oh, woe is me!" he exclaimed dramatically, throwing his arm across his eyes in despair. "Be calm my broken heart, how will I ever live on?"

"Get ready to taste Inquisitor's flanges, you mangy piece of shit."

" _If_ you two are quite finished," Goodwitch snapped, and Orville tossed her a thumbs-up while Cardin nodded tersely. "Very well, begin."

Cardin went immediately on the attack, leaping forward with his mace at the ready. Without any earth matter to manipulate, Orville fell back on his earliest, most well-developed skill of dodging and side-stepped Cardin's initial downward swing.

Inquisitor crashed into the flagstones and Orville tried to capitalize on the opening by sending a push kick into Cardin's chest. Cardin caught his foot on his gauntlet and brought his mace upward, giving Orville only a moment to weave away from the powerful strike.

Orville skipped back to make some room and Cardin took the opportunity to surge to his feet, snarling after his opponent. With each missed swipe, Cardin's face grew redder as his movements slowed while Orville dodged away a hair's breadth from pain.

When Orville deemed his opponent tired enough after a five minute game of cat-and-mouse, he slipped under Cardin's arm as he prepared an overhead strike and pressed his back against the cold armor behind him, feeling for any change. Cardin turned left and Orville moved right, matching the mace-wielder step for step. Frustration mounting, Cardin tried to spin in a full circle with Inquisitor held horizontally in the hopes of catching Orville off his guard, but Orville dropped and slid down between Cardin's legs.

Suddenly in front of Cardin, Orville leapt up and hammered both feet straight into Cardin's chest, denting the breastplate and sending the other team leader flying across the arena. Cardin attempted to get up, but the impact of the drop-kick (combined with the exhaustion of chasing after Orville and the influence of the Tiger's Eye) forced him back down to one knee.

"And that is the match," Goodwitch stated. Orville glanced up at the scoreboard and found that Cardin's aura was only about a fifth of the way depleted. "Mr. Winchester, I would advise you to work on your staying power. An hour in the endurance room of the Training Wing a day should do for now. Mr. Doyle, I applaud your demonstration of evasion tactics and gauging your opponent's fortitude, but next time try to wait until _after_ the match has begun before using your Dust."

She leveled a stern glare at him, to which Orville replied with an unrepentant grin. "Will do, Professor G."

Goodwitch sighed, and the twitch in her eye likely meant bad news for Orville if he tried a repeat of that particular strategy. But it wasn't like he'd do it again; pulling the same trick twice showed a lack of imagination, and thanks to Goodwitch others would be looking out for it anyway.

As Orville and Cardin took their seats, Goodwitch addressed the class as a whole. "Remember, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away. It won't be long before students from the other Kingdoms will start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing." The girls all seemed psyched at the reminder, Ruby and Yang most of all. "Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale."

Class ended soon after, and Orville filed out with the rest of the students beside Pyrrha, who was less than impressed with his combat etiquette.

"You know you can't do that in the tournament," she chastised as they headed toward the dining hall.

"Obviously, I can't do that in the tournament," Orville replied flippantly. "There'll be security cameras everywhere." At Pyrrha's not-quite-glare he raised his hands defensively. "Joking. Seriously, Pyrrha, I understand how much winning at the Vytal Festival means to you. I wouldn't jeopardize that by slapping someone's ass, no matter how tantalizing it might seem. Cardin's just a special case."

Pyrrha sighed and nodded wearily. "I suppose I can't fault you for it," she admitted. "It's just a good thing his skill doesn't match his ego or we'd all be in trouble."

Orville nudged her in the ribs where he'd learned earlier that week she was ticklish. "Just us lowly mortals, Champ," he snickered. "You'd still be able to whoop his ass six ways to Sunday."

"Oh, quit," Pyrrha slapped him away, smiling nonetheless. Orville was glad to say that he and his partner had been getting along swimmingly despite their different approaches to life in general. Pyrrha was a very driven individual, with a work ethic that could move mountains given the time and opportunity. He really admired that sort of focus, even if she sometimes drove him up a wall nagging at him to get his homework done, or head to the Training Wing to exercise and spar.

The last bit wasn't so much a chore, though. Orville actually enjoyed testing his skills against Pyrrha immensely, and not just because he got to wrestle with a nubile girl. He had at least a passing familiarity with most of the martial arts which had originated on Vytal, but the Mistrali grappling techniques were an entirely new challenge that he rose to meet eagerly. He only won perhaps once every ten bouts, but it was downright _fun_ to match his fighting style against hers.

They quickly made their way through the buffet line and piled up their plates before joining their friends at the table they'd claimed as their own. Nora (as she was wont to do) gesticulated wildly as she recounted a recurring dream which had been plaguing her while Ren (as _he_ was wont to do) corrected her every sentence or so.

Orville smiled absently as he listen with half an ear. His other two teammates had grown on him as well. Ren, while quiet and reserved much of the time, had quite an entertaining and scathingly sharp wit that only showed up when he was either comfortable or tired (or both). Nora, despite her... _enthusiastic_ approach to friendship, was quickly becoming one of his favorite people ever. It was simply impossible to get bored while she was anywhere nearby, and though he liked his peace as much as Ren or Blake, his hammer-wielding friend could always be counted on to chase a melancholy mood away with a pink rocket or two.

He sipped his hot chocolate placidly, recalling the first time he'd indulged himself in the tasty drink at Beacon with a wry smile and a slight shudder. Ruby, being the responsible dog owner she was, had taken it upon herself to slap the cup of scalding liquid out of his hands (and directly on his crotch), screaming about how chocolate was poison for dogs. What followed was a brief lesson in biology and the differences between a dog and a dog _Faunus_ , along with a river of repentant tears from Ruby and hurried assurances that he didn't hold it against her amidst gales of laughter from Yang and Blake (mostly Yang).

"Pretty slick move you pulled on Cardin today, Corndog." Yang's voice cut through his thoughts, and he returned to the present to find her glancing over his shoulder at something.

"I try," he said with a shrug. He tilted his head slightly to see what she was looking at, and he felt a scowl settle across his face. Cardin and his team of idiots were crowded around a Faunus girl with long brown hair and matching rabbit ears that he vaguely recognized as being in the same History class as him. "Someone's gotta put Baby Bird in check."

Yang propped her head up with one hand as she watched Team CRDL harass the poor girl. "Must be tough being a Faunus."

Orville offered her a devious wink as a plan formed in his mind. "It's got its perks," he said, scooping up the whipped cream from his hot chocolate and smeared it around his mouth, then did the same with the pile atop a protesting Nora's pancakes. "Take this for example." Then, with white foam dripping from his chin, he began to snarl and growl as he stumbled toward Cardin and the others. "Cardin, help me! I've got the rabies!"

The armored boy, who had by that point begun tugging on the Faunus girl's ear, took one look at Orville's face and went white as a sheet. "Holy Rainbows of Remnant!" Cardin yelped, backpedaling away so quickly he tripped over himself, landing flat on his ass. His teammate with the mohawk, Russel Jimmy or something, helped him to his feet before they and the other two fled from the dining hall like the hounds of hell were snapping at their heels.

Orville waited until they were gone before bursting into helpless laughter, only to choke and sputter when he inhaled some of the whipped cream still clinging to his mouth. He felt someone thump him solidly on the back a few times and blessed air flowed back into his lungs in place of sugary dairy product.

"Whew," he gasped, clearing his throat of any residue before turning to his savior. "Thanks a million."

The rabbit Faunus whom Cardin had been bothering smiled back tentatively. "I should be thanking you for getting rid of those pests," she said with a shake of her head. "I'm Velvet, by the way."

"Orville. Why didn't you fuck those jerks up, though? You seem capable enough."

Velvet sighed. "I'm a second-year," she explained. "We're not allowed to fight the firsties unless we're in Combat class or in the Training Wing for a spar."

"Not even in self-defense?" Orville asked in disbelief. When Velvet replied in the negative he shook his head, disgusted. "I really hate school. Anyway, do you wanna sit with us over here in case Baby Bird and his flock come back?"

He gestured toward the BROWNPRY table, where the others had been eavesdropping shamelessly. When Velvet's eyes roamed over, Yang and Nora started shoving the others around to make room on either side of the table.

"I don't want to be a bother," Velvet mumbled, scratching her cheek.

"They'll bother you more than you do to them," Orville assured her, gently guiding her over with a gentle hand on her shoulder. "So where's your team? Shouldn't you be eating with them?"

"Normally," Velvet said, taking a seat between Blake and Weiss while Orville returned to his spot across from her. "But I got a compound fracture in my leg during the last Combat session, and I don't exactly have an overabundance of Aura to spare. They're on a mission in the Residential Sector for today while I'm on medical leave."

"Tough break," Yang offered sympathetically, only to be bombarded by food. "What, too soon?"

"It will _never_ be soon enough for that one, Goldilocks," Orville coughed, trying to hide the instinctive grin.

"I thought it was funny," Velvet defended, and Yang beamed at the Faunus.

" _Don't_ encourage her," Weiss said in a strained voice. "It's bad enough I have to hear 'Want some Weiss-cream?' at dinner and 'Gesundweiss' every time I 'Schneeze'. I'd like at least one meal devoid of horrible puns."

"You know you love it, Ice Queen," Yang shot back. Weiss pursed her lips and pointedly ignored her busty teammate, turning instead to Velvet.

"If you're a second-year, why are you in our History class?" she asked with polite curiosity.

"I... _may_ have failed last year's course," the rabbit-eared girl muttered self-consciously.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of," Ren said reassuringly. "I'm sure Orville will fail several classes this year."

"Your confidence in me is overwhelming," Orville griped. "But he's right...about it not being embarrassing or anything, not about me failing. Oobleck talks so fast I can barely comprehend it, let alone take any worthwhile notes."

"That's why I read up on the chapter beforehand," Blake spoke up, having finished her tuna sandwich.

"Yeah, but not everyone can be a big nerd like you, Sugar Britches," Orville replied.

"I thought Blake was Chuckles?" Ruby wondered aloud.

"It's hard coming up with a good nickname for her," Orville explained. "I'm toying with a few other ones, too. How does B-Dog sound?"

Ruby's eyes brightened even as Blake's narrowed dangerously. "Aw, that's _way_ cooler than _my_ nickname," Ruby gushed, turning to her dark-clad teammate. "Is it okay if I call you...?"

"No," Blake cut in flatly.

"But..."

"No," the secret Faunus reiterated firmly. "I'm not much of a dog-person."

" _I'll say_ ," Orville muttered quietly, and Blake's bow shifted in irritation as she glared at him.

"Ah...so anyway, Blake," Pyrrha said, breaking the tension between the pair. "Are you excited for the field trip?"

Blake turned her amber eyes toward the Mistrali, her expression softening minutely. "I suppose," she replied, "if only to get away from Beacon for a little while."

"Well, we can agree on that much, at least," Orville said before shoving a spoonful of macaroni into his mouth.

"Oh, are you going on the Forever Fall trip soon?" Velvet asked. "I remember doing that last year, too."

"What can we expect?" Weiss inquired, probably looking for an inside scoop.

"All you'll be doing is collecting tree sap," Velvet shrugged. "Just be careful with it; for some reason Grimm are attracted to the scent."

"I bet it tastes like maple syrup," Nora postulated. "I'm gonna eat some!"

"Is it poisonous?" Orville turned to the older girl, who shook her head, smiling faintly.

"Not at all; the teachers _say_ the sap will be used by Professor Peach to make Grimm-bait in the third-year Grimm Studies class, but Peach actually makes a great syrup that she sells to raise money for the massive coffee expenses the staff goes through."

"That's informative," Orville quipped, grinning at Nora. "Looks like you _can_ eat some, Blitzen. Just don't go overboard; we'll say two jars, alright?"

Nora only looked slightly disappointed at having a limit set on her sap consumption. "Aye, aye, cap'n!" she belted out, surging to her feet for a proper Atlesian salute.

"You know she's going to be up for the rest of the night thinking about eating tree gunk," Ren sighed, likely picturing trying to sleep while an excitable pink bundle of energy jumped on his bed.

"We'll just have to get in a few spars before bedtime," Orville answered. "Team bonding and all that good stuff." He checked his scroll for the time and grimaced, turning to Velvet. "It was great to meetcha, Vel, but we've gotta get ready for our next class."

Nodding, the rabbit Faunus stood up with her mostly empty tray. "Likewise. What do you have next?"

Orville face soured even as Nora brightened. "We've got Grimmland Survival with Professor Arc after this!" she crowed. "It's only the best class here!"

Velvet smiled at Nora's exuberance. "I know what you mean, even though he's younger than me, Professor Arc really knows his stuff."

Since their declaration of partnership a few weeks ago, Orville and Jaune had come to a tentative truce of sorts. Orville would no longer be outright belligerent in class while Jaune wouldn't needlessly antagonize him in front of the other students. That had lasted all of about a week before Jaune decided that he needed an assistant every other class or so in order to help demonstrate basic survival skills. And who better to aid him than the wunderkind who'd spent half their life beyond the Kingdoms?

The worst part about it was that Jaune hadn't come to Orville with anything regarding the investigation at Beacon, despite Orville _knowing_ something wasn't right. He'd kept abreast of the news in Vale proper, and for whatever reason, Roman had been going on a crime spree unseen in the Kingdoms for decades. Dust, equipment, armor; it was like he was single-handedly trying to outfit an army.

Roman himself had been keeping quiet about his activities as well, telling Orville that it was need-to-know. Apparently, Orville's own mission was need-to-know, as that damn criminal _still_ hadn't specified exactly _what_ sort of specs Cinder wanted on the school. It wasn't enough that he'd been roped into doing Roman's dirty work for him, he was also basically flying blind in the middle of a hurricane without steering.

His bad mood lingered all through Jaune's class, during which he had them practice lighting fires without the aid of Dust (Orville may or may not have cheated wildly), and it was only hours later, after working out his frustration fighting a free-for-all style match against the other three members of his team, that he felt like himself again.

As he half supported an exhausted Ren while ORNP's lovely ladies trudged just ahead of them. Even Nora wasn't quite skipping along as she normally did after such a draining session. They'd been a team long enough to have begun learning the little tells and signals the others gave during combat, making for a much more challenging bout.

When they got to the dorm, Orville dropped Ren into his bed, where the quiet boy knocked out as soon as his head hit the pillow, not even bothering to take off his shoes. Orville was about to head into the bathroom to brush his teeth while the girls changed when his scroll beeped, signalling an incoming message.

 _Call me. -Jack_

Orville considered just blowing off the bastard until tomorrow, but his curiosity won out over his belligerence. "I'm gonna make a call; make sure Nora gets to sleep early, alright?" he said, turning to his partner. Pyrrha and Nora were already undressing (after the first few times of catching an eyeful of each other, Team ORNP decided to forego any body-shyness), and Pyrrha nodded her acknowledgement.

He slipped down the hall and up the stairwell that led to the roof of the dormitory building before dialing _Jack's_ number.

Roman picked up after the first ring. "Howdy, Spot? How's the college life treating ya?"

"It wouldn't be so bad if I'd made the conscious decision to attend," Orville replied with false cheer. "How's the whipped-dog underling life treating ya?" He knew it was a low-blow, but Orville wasn't feeling too charitable toward his friend at the moment.

"Better than I expected," Roman said. "At least the view's nice." A brief sizzling sound crackled through the speaker, followed by an undignified yelp Orville had heard many times before. It seemed that Roman's superior was listening into the conversation.

"So what's the deal? Am I finally going to get my 'mission specs,' so to speak?"

"Can't rush this kind of delicate operation, Spot," Roman chided. "We needed to make sure you could integrate well into the student body before anything else. Otherwise you'd just be drawing attention to yourself."

"Yeah, because spit-roasting a Giant Nevermore with a Pyrite skewer _sure_ isn't drawing attention to myself," Orville snarked.

"I saw that on ViewTube; that was pretty cool," Roman offered. "There's this remix someone did with that N'Tune song, _Bye-Bye-Bye_ in the background that's priceless. I think I sent you a link to it?"

"Yeah, I saw that one, too. Terrible editing work, though."

"Anyway, my boss wants you to make a list of students who you think will be in the Vytal Festival Tournament, along with the usual stuff; height, weight, hand preference, weapon of choice, and how their Semblance works if you can swing it."

"And why do you need to know that?" Orville asked tersely. He knew for a fact that his team and RWBY would be applying for one of the four Vale team spots, and unless some astronomically improbable event took place to hur their chances, odds were that they'd get in. If Cinder had any plans that involved his new friends getting hurt...

"That's classified, Spot," Roman answered, voice just as tight.

"What's the matter, don't you trust me?"

Roman sighed. "You _know_ I trust you, you flea-bitten mongrel. Every single part of this plan is compartmentalized. I don't know what those blasted kids are doing, you don't know what I'm doing, and _nobody_ knows what _you're_ doing, except the big boss. You wanna learn the ins and outs of this operation, you're gonna have to get in tight with her."

"Fuck her," Orville ground out.

"She's _listening_ , you fuck-wit!" Roman hissed, and Orville chuckled humorlessly.

"I _know_ she's listening; I heard her flame-broil your lily-white ass earlier. So, Miss Cinder Bitch, I don't care much for people who pressure my idiot of a friend into doing shit, but he's a big boy and he can handle his own shit. The thing is, if you want any of the information you're fishing for, then either tell me why you need it or get it from someone else."

There was a pause over the line, then a velvety voice answered, "You're certainly an outspoken one, I'll give you that."

"Cinder, I presume?"

"Indeed," said the mastermind behind whatever plan he was involved in. "I am Cinder Fall, and as you so eloquently put it, I am the bitch who pressured your idiot friend."

Orville heard Roman muttering about 'crazy mutts' in the background and sneered. "So, would you mind explaining a few things to me?"

A soft, melodic hum issued from the speaker. "Well, I _have_ been meaning to meet with you in person. It wouldn't do to have my mole in Beacon find me so untrustworthy, after all. I know you have a trip to the Forever Fall Forest scheduled for next weekend; perhaps we might bump into one another then, and I'll shed a little light on the situation."

"Sounds good to me," Orville agreed quickly, not wanting to spoil the opportunity. "I'd appreciate it if you would bring Pumpkin Spice along with you. I'm starting to miss his ugly mug."

"Oh, I'll make sure dear Roman is there," Cinder's voice was silk sliding across a poisoned blade. "Until then, work on that list, as a... _favor_ to me."

Orville scowled, but answered, "Fine, we'll swap in the Forest." Then he cut the line and slumped. His heart was beating much faster than any scroll call should have necessitated. Just her inflection and the way she spoke sent shivers of fear and caution running up and down his spine.

Snarling, Orville turned and headed back down to his dorm, mind racing as he tried to come up with a viable plan going into the meeting. He'd have to somehow get away from his team during the field trip, and keep the attention of the staff chaperone off him as well.

With a sigh, he unlocked the door and dropped into bed after making sure his team was truly asleep. _So much for getting some rest this week..._

* * *

 **After-Action Report:** I feel like these chapters are getting shorter and shorter. I'll try to make sure the next one's at least six-to-seven thousand words to make up for it.

Anyway, first we have Cardin and Orville's first interaction. Cardin's a really interesting character when it comes to the fandom (or at least what little I've seen of it). I've definitely got some potential ideas concerning the Baby Bird (I do watch _Undateable_ , why do you ask?), but that'll have to wait until next chapter and beyond. I was unable to find out if Cardin's mace has a canon name, so I just made one up; going on Cardin's general Catholic priest theme, the mace is now named Inquisitor. The fact that I came up with the name while re-watching _Star Wars: Rebels_ is purely coincidence.

A little more bonding as far as the two protagonist teams go; they've had a few weeks to grow more comfortable with each other, and know a few of their little quirks by this point. That lunchroom conversation got a little Slice-of-Life-ish, but it worked, at least for me.

And finally, Cinder Fall makes an appearance (so to speak). I really fear for what might happen to Orville next chapter. He's earth: patient, confident, and hard-headed, while she is fire: capricious, unpredictable, and hungry. It'll be one hell of an encounter, that's for sure. And you can also expect a few other characters to show up a little earlier than expected next chapter as well.

Anything I failed to address or mention can be brought up in a review or PM (seriously, I'd love it if you guys would review, last chapter got a grand total of ZERO, kinda bummed me out). Even if it's just to spew hatred for my shitty scratchings, I'd appreciate some feedback.

Until next time, have a great day!


	5. You've Got a Friend in Me

**Author's Note:** Another week, another chapter. I think I'm doing pretty well on keeping to a (loose) update schedule so far. Anyway, I've been a little busy helping my little sister with her baby since they're both sick and snotty and generally disgusting so this might not be at the same quality as the other chapters, so keep an eye out for any mistakes I might have let slip in.

It didn't help that the last episode of RWBY put me into a brief idea coma for a few days while I processed all the craziness.

 **Disclaimer** and **Warnings** still apply from the first chapter.

* * *

Chapter 5: You've Got a Friend in Me

* * *

While Orville tried to come up with a viable plan for the meeting, he was still inundated with his obligations as both a team leader and a friend (not to mention the accursed blight known as _schoolwork_ ). If he'd had any idea how _exhausting_ companionship was, he might have been a little more wary of the concept. If there was one thing he missed about Roman, it was the fact that he didn't bother Orville every other day to go out and do something. True, part of that was due to both of them having other illegal obligations, but the point still stood.

Ruby and Yang, on the other hand, seemed to have taken it upon themselves to show him exactly how to be someone's buddy after he'd let slip that they were his first two friends around his own age (and he was _still_ beating himself up over that one). The first weekend had actually been sort of fun. He and Yang had gone to The Club, a place owned and operated by one of Orville's contacts, Hei Xiong, for a few drinks to celebrate surviving Initiation and all that came afterward. The fact that Junior seemed to be terrified of Yang (going so far as to call her 'Blondie, Sir') was simply icing on a very fun, alcohol-soaked cake. It had even been a nice experience to tag along with Ruby to pick up some spare parts for Crescent Rose when the viciously elegant weapon inevitably required some maintenance.

After the first few times hanging out and all of the mundane conversation topics had been rehashed, the sisters had begun asking about Orville, or more specifically, his past. He hadn't exactly been forthcoming with them, even after they pestered him for what had felt like a whole day following his outburst in their first class with Jaune, and it was starting to become quite a bother. It wasn't just because he liked to keep to himself, though that _was_ a good part of it. The honest truth was he _wanted_ to let them know about himself. The only people on Remnant who were aware of his past were Gin and Roman, and even Roman was in the dark about a few more personal matters.

But Ruby had opened up to him and stuck by his side from day one at Beacon, and he felt like the biggest pile of shit for holding her at arms' length like a pup who'd decided to take a piss while being held. Yang, meanwhile, was likely doing recon duty as a (more or less) responsible big sister. Sure, she was as exciting and unpredictable as a jungle gym made of Burn Dust, but when she put her mind to something she was like a dog with a bone (and not in the good way, either). While Ruby wanted to get to know him because, in her words, "That's what friends do," Yang just wanted to unravel the mystery she perceived him to be in order to gauge whether or not he posed a threat to the little one.

And that was totally fine. Hell, he understood her reasons perfectly; if he had a younger sibling, Orville liked to think he'd do whatever it took to keep them healthy and secure. Most Faunus didn't want to admit that they gained behavioral traits from their animalistic heritage, but Orville embraced that. It was part of who he was, and as a dog, pack mentality and a protective streak were a given. Yang just wanted her sister to be safe, but if Orville _did_ tell them about his shady upbringing they might not want anything more to do with him, and that thought was both appealing and unpleasant to him.

On the one hand, it would make his job a lot easier. Without any friendly ties to Team RWBY, he wouldn't be as hung-up on offering Cinder that list. Plus, there wouldn't be any short little redheads or curvaceous blondes to bug the ever-living _shit_ out of him.

Still, the feeling of easy companionship was something dangerously addictive. Learning from Gin or dicking about with Roman were completely different experiences than having drinks and people-watching with Yang or hanging out in a tree and listening to music with Ruby. He _wanted_ to be friends with them, and that was what scared him; before coming to Beacon, all he'd truly ever desired was the freedom to go wherever he pleased and hang the consequences. If he'd come across a genie in a bottle on his travels, his wish would be for a chilled, ever-full bottle of milk that never spoiled (he liked milk), because he already had everything he could possibly want.

Now, though...now he'd wish for some insight into how he could keep his new friends from the disaster looming just beyond the horizon. Orville was much more in tune with his instincts than even other Faunus, having relied on them constantly in the Grimmlands. He knew the feeling he got when a storm was brewing, and the one Cinder was cooking up felt like it could tear the world apart.

"...Orville?"

He blinked, thoughts scattering as he returned to the dining hall. The others at the table were looking at him, and he realized he must have spaced out significantly because there were three new faces seated beside Velvet.

The girl wore a killer pair of dark sunglasses and a matching stylish beret over her dark brown hair, though a longer fistful transitioned from what he assumed was her natural hair color to a more vibrant orange color. Her uniform had been modified quite thoroughly, with impressive embroidery of the cloth and accessories which accented the colors beautifully. Orville resolved to pick up some pointers if he could.

The two guys were about as different as possible from the other. One was slim and dark, with messy roan hair that fell into filmy white eyes, while the other was pale and one of the largest people Orville had ever run across, with close-cropped black hair and slanted black eyes. They both wore unadorned Beacon uniforms, though the big fella's was probably five sizes bigger than the dark-skinned one's.

"What'd I miss?" he asked.

"I was trying to introduce you to my team," Velvet pouted, puffing her cheeks out. She gestured first to the girl with the shades. "That's Coco, she's our team leader. The big fellow is Yatsuhashi, and the last is Fox."

Orville nodded amiably toward each as they were named. "Pleased to meetcha," he said. "I'm Orville."

"Yeah, they know Corndog," Yang snickered. "You've been off in la-la land for about five minutes straight. Thinkin' about P-Money naked?"

Pyrrha frowned at Yang even as she flushed red. "Nah," Orville shot back, "I do _that_ in the showers. Just gathering wool." He watched in amused fascination as his partner's face darkened further until it matched her hair.

Coco cleared her throat, calling his attention back to her. She lowered her shades, revealing eyes the color of rich bourbon, and leaned her elbows on the table. "I wanted to thank you for watching out for our Velvet," the girl stated. "She's too nice for her own good."

"Ah, I'd been planning on messing with Baby Bird anyway," Orville tried to brush the gratitude away. "Vel was just in the wrong place at the right time. Besides, she saved me from passing out from oxygen-deprivation and all the embarrassment _that_ would have brought, so I call it even."

Coco glanced at her teammate. "Ever the helpful little bunny, aren't you?" she said with a teasing lilt that caused Velvet to look away, her long hair forming a curtain over her face. "But the point still stands; I want to show my appreciation, and the best way I know how to do that is to take you out for some coffee on Friday."

"Oh," Orville floundered for a moment. "Uh..."

"He'd love to," Yang interrupted, drilling her knuckles into the spot between his dog-ears. "Except he's already agreed to hang out with me and Rubes on Friday."

An immaculately-shaped eyebrow rose as Coco regarded Yang. "Did he now?" she asked softly, turning to Orville for confirmation. Luckily, his brain hadn't fully locked up yet and he nodded, offering her an apologetic shrug.

"Sorry about that," he said with a weak smile.

"Well, maybe next time then," Coco brushed it off with a wink as she pushed her glasses back up her nose. "We'll talk later, when you're not... _otherwise_ engaged." She shot Yang a smirk as she rose from the table and left, her team following along.

Orville let out a breath and smiled appreciatively at Yang. "Thanks for the save," he said.

"I prefer to think of it as tossing you out of the fry-Yang pan and into the fire," she replied, a shit-eating grin plastered on her face. "Don't make any plans for Friday, Corndog; you're taking me and Ruby on a date!"

Groaning, Orville slammed his head on the table, hoping to give himself some form of brain-damage (though that was as much due to the awful pun as it was for the situation he'd found himself in). He was about to refuse, since he knew Yang would continue her self-appointed quest to wheedle information out of him, when Ruby spoke up.

"You don't have to do it if you don't want, Orville," the youngest member of their group said, focusing on her fingers as she poked them together. "I mean, if hanging out with us is that unappealing to you." She looked up at him with those big silvery eyes of hers and he could actually _feel_ his ire being disintegrated by the critical level of cuteness...

"Oh, you are _not_ trying to pull puppy-dog eyes on me!" he exclaimed, and Ruby shot Yang a furtive, guilty look that told him all he needed to know. "Those don't work on _dog Faunus_ , Red. I would have thought you had more sense than that."

In response, Ruby redoubled her efforts, glancing up through her eyelashes as her lips puckered into a slight pout. "If you don't want to go, it's fine," she tried again, but Orville decided to fight back, pulling the same kicked-puppy look he'd hit Weiss with on the day of Initiation.

"Ruby," he said, probably the first time he'd used her given name, "this is emotional blackmail that could possibly damage our friendship. Why are you doing this to me?"

The poor girl seemed taken aback at the reversal, but rallied when Yang's hand squeezed her shoulder in support. "I'm only doing this to strengthen our friendship, Orville," she answered as her eyes became bright with unshed moisture. "We want to get to know you better."

Orville really thought that was hitting below the belt. Plus, he couldn't cry on demand, so he'd have to up the ante in a different manner. "And I _want_ you to know me," he returned, dipping into his tiny pot of truths. "But there are some things better left unsaid." Here, he forced his ears to hang low as he turned away from them.

"There's nothing you could say that would make us not want to be your friend anymore," Ruby said softly, and he felt her hand press gently against his back. Suddenly, Orville felt distinctly uneasy. Their playful battle of cuteness had quickly become something a lot more real than he was comfortable with. He made the final mistake of looking at Ruby, who offered him an earnest smile that immediately ripped down any remaining resistance.

"Gah, geez, alright!" Orville slumped in defeat even as Yang leapt to her feet, punching the air triumphantly. "We'll go to Vale on Friday, just stop looking at me like that!"

Ruby beamed at him. "So puppy-eyes don't work on dog Faunus, huh?"

"You're an entirely different category altogether, Red," Orville grumbled, unamused. "A true Weapon of Mass D'aww-struction."

Yang paused in her victory lap around the table. "That's a good one, Corndog. I'm gonna steal it from you. C'mere Ruby, you da real MVP today!" She grabbed her sister and hoisted her up onto her shoulders before continuing to circle the table, shouting their undefeated status for Remnant to hear.

"First they pressure me into doing something I don't want to, now they're taking my jokes..."

"It only gets worse from here," Ren muttered consolingly as Nora joined the two sisters.

* * *

The days, as they tended to do, passed quickly until Friday afternoon was upon them. Orville, grateful as always to see the end of another school day, tore his uniform off as soon as he was halfway in ORNP's dorm and headed for the shower having called dibs on the way back.

"Don't forget, you've got a date tonight!" Nora reminded him through the bathroom door. "Get yourself all gussied up and lookin' sexy-fine for Ruby and Yang!"

"Who the hell says 'gussied up' anymore? Or ever for that matter?" Orville sniped back with no heat. He'd been dreading this evening's outing since its inception, and now that it was upon him, Orville kind of wished that his Semblance was a great-big Reset Button instead of Geomancy. Shaking that blasphemous thought from his head, Orville proceeded to ready himself (physically and mentally).

His so-called teammates had been no help whatsoever. Nora was, perhaps unsurprisingly, backing the sisters a hundred and ten percent, and wherever Nora went Ren reluctantly followed. Meanwhile, Pyrrha had spent the past few days shooting Yang and Ruby oddly hostile glares while trying her best to ignore him (fat lot of good _that_ did her; Orville was impossible to ignore). He was starting to get a sneaking suspicion that she wanted him to go on this 'date' about as much as Orville himself did (i.e. not at all).

Sighing, Orville left the bathroom and shrugged on his casual clothing, hooking his Dust holster firmly around his waist, and promptly formed a Tiger's Eye dagger with which to commit Sleep-puku. Unfortunately, Nora must have anticipated such a tactic, for he was promptly struck in the chest by a flying Ren. The impact forced him to drop his dagger, and while the two male members of ORNP were dazed Nora relieved him of the utility belt with surprising swiftness.

"Ah-ah-ah," Nora sang merrily, wagging a finger at Orville. "No getting out of this one, Glorious Leader. I Pinky-Swore to Ruby that I'd make sure you didn't try to get out of this, and by Gum, I stick to my promises!"

Orville wasn't sure if that one had been a purposeful attack on proper wordplay or simply coincidence, and made a mental note to keep Nora away from Yang from now on.

"Really, Orville," Ren grunted painfully as he dusted himself off. "You're acting like they'll torture you or something."

"But they _will_ , PJ," Orville whined, hoping the other boy would find a shred of decency in his heart. "They're gonna ask _so_ many questions that I can't answer, and I'm gonna _hate_ it!"

"Why can't you answer their questions?" Nora asked. "Are you a spy? Do you work for the government?" She gasped, reeling back as far away from him as possible. "Are you an _alien_?"

"What? No, I'm not an alien!" Orville sometimes had a hard time following Nora's leaps in logic, but that wasn't the issue at the moment. "I just...I just _can't_. You guys seem to understand that well enough, why can't they?"

"I have to admit," Pyrrha finally spoke up, "I'm a little curious about you as well. You _never_ share anything about yourself, and you have to see that it's a bit strange, right?"

Orville fought the urge to rub his hand over his face wearily. "I _know_ , I really do," he sighed. All the hiding and subterfuge was well and good when it was just him in the Grimmlands, but he had a team now, friends who cared about him. Perhaps it was time to show a little trust in them.

But the question that gnawed at him constantly reared up once more: Will they still care when they find out you're working for a criminal? That you _are_ a criminal?

Instead of elaborating any further, Orville grabbed his scroll and wallet, then stepped into his boots. "I'd better get going. I'll see you guys later."

His feet carried him to the airship docks as he pondered his dilemma and growled in frustration when it all ended up right back where he started. Cyclical thinking was something for the philosophers, he needed a solution that just wasn't forthcoming.

"Orville!"

He glanced up and found that he was only a few yards away from the docks, where a few dozen students milled about, waiting for the next ferry. Standing off to the side of the crowd, Ruby and Yang waved him over, wearing identical grins.

"Glad to see Nora keeps Pinky-Swears," Ruby noted smugly. "Ready for a night on the town?"

"As I'll ever be," Orville said with no small amount of resignation.

Yang hooked an arm around his and steered him toward an open bench. "Lighten up, man! You're taking two hot chicks out and you're acting like a total bummer."

Orville took a steadying breath and nodded, smiling a little. Maybe if he gave them just enough to sate their curiosity, it would work itself out. "You're right," he admitted. "I'm being ungrateful that a pair of angels would deign to accompany such a lowly creature as me tonight." He spun her around, using her grip on his arm as leverage, and kissed her half-gloved hand. "Forgive me, dearest Lady Yang, for my transgressions!"

A delighted giggle escaped her lips as she tried to curtsy and failed miserably. "How could I refuse so earnest and loyal a servant?" she simpered in a passable impression of Weiss.

"And what about me?" Ruby groused, crossing her arms expectantly.

"Ah, how could I forget the rosy-cheeked maiden of Patch!" Orville gasped, falling into a low, sweeping bow that almost saw his bangs touching the cobblestones.

Ruby stared imperiously down her nose at him before making a 'get up' gesture with two fingers. "Rise, peasant. It displeases me to see such groveling."

Orville managed to hold his mirth in at seeing Ruby of all people acting so Schnee-ish, but Yang had no reservations and burst into laughter. "See, we're having fun, right?"

"Sure, okay," Orville relented, grinning.

"So what are we gonna do?" Ruby asked as they sat down on the bench.

Shrugging, Orville replied, "Dunno, I've spent more time in the city these past few weeks than I have in the last few years. I figure we find somewhere to grab a bite, then hit downtown and see what trouble we can stir up."

"Sounds like my kinda night," Yang smirked. "Any preference on food?"

"There's a great confectionery just off Main and Sepia," Ruby perked up, eyes bright at even the prospect of baked goods. "They have the _best_ white-chocolate macadamia nut cookies!"

"Maybe for dessert," Orville suggested, wondering just where his small friend got her cookie addiction from. "I was thinking like a little diner, nothing special. I saw one close by the docks last time I came with Ren and Nora to pick up her weekly drum of maple syrup."

Yang looked like she might have questioned where one _bought_ drums full of syrup ( _Orville_ hadn't even known, and he was in the business of knowing things like that), but before she could get the words out, the airship rose up over the side of the cliff and docked. "We'll figure it out," she said instead as they queued up.

* * *

Eight o'clock found the trio sitting near a fountain shaped like a sea god in his chariot to rest their feet. Or rather, Orville and Yang were taking a load off in order to recover some modicum of energy while Ruby zipped about trailing a line of children like a kite's tail as they laughed and tried to catch her. Ruby said she was bad with people, and that may have been true to an extent, but kids seemed to flock to her like lodestones to a magnet.

Orville glanced to the side, where Yang was watching her little sister with a content smile and soft eyes so different from the teasing grins and mischievous smirks she normally presented. A question that had been waiting to be asked rose up in his mind, but he worried that if he began an inquiry it would open up the floodgates for Yang to reciprocate.

Finally, he bit the bullet and said, "Can I ask you something?" Yang turned her lilac gaze to him curiously and nodded for him to go on. "I've been meaning to ask since I learned your last name...are you and Ruby half-sisters?"

Yang dipped her chin once. "Yeah, we've got the same dad, but different mothers," she replied. "My mom...sort of took off when I was really little, but Summer-that's Ruby's mom-was there for me and Dad and, well I suppose the rest is kind of obvious."

Orville nodded; there had been a few Faunus kids in the White Fang whose parents had abandoned them (either because they were unable to properly care for them or they were humans whose kid had a 'genetic defect'), so he could understand how Yang must feel, at least a little.

"What about you?" Yang turned the question on him. "You have any brothers or sisters?"

"Nah," he shook his head. "My parents never got around to popping out another little troublemaker. You're looking at a limited edition Faunus, missy."

"So where are they at, your parents?" Orville cleared his throat uncomfortably, debating whether or not to say anything. She _had_ just revealed a little about her own home life; would it be rude if he chose not to answer? "Come on, Corndog, tit for tat."

"Ah, they're...dead," Orville said, wincing at the stricken look Yang gave him.

"Oh, man," she growled, smacking herself on the forehead loudly. "I'm sorry, Orville. I should've figured that's why you don't like to talk about that kind of stuff."

Orville smiled, nudging her shoulder with his own. "It's alright," he assured her. "They've been gone since I was eight; I've lived half my life without 'em, I got used to it. And you deserve to know, us being friends and all that."

"Does anyone else know?"

After a bit of thought, he nodded. "Sugar Britches does."

Yang shot him an incredulous look. " _Blake_? From what I've seen the only time you two talk is to trade verbal jabs."

"It was when we first met," Orville explained, chuckling. "I made some comment about my parents rolling in their graves and she picked up on it pretty quickly. Sharp as a tack, your partner is."

Yang snorted. "Yeah, I suppose she is. So...would you get mad if I asked you how they died?"

Orville took a moment to respond, mostly because he didn't exactly want to burden Yang with one of life's horrible truths. "They were White Fang members," he finally said, "back when people could say that with pride. There was a protest against the Lighthouse branch of the Schnee Dust Company, and my parents were there."

"Oh, no," Yang looked like the bottom of her stomach had just dropped a thousand feet. "They were at the Lighthouse Massacre."

The Lighthouse Massacre was one of the most gruesome events in the last ten years of Remnant's history. The SDC insisted that the Anti-Grimm security system had been faulty and still in its testing phase, but the general consensus was that someone from high up in the company's hierarchy ordered the electrical Dust fences and automated turret guns to be shut off, leaving nearly a thousand Faunus full of fury and fear in their hearts undefended against hordes of soulless beasts outside the Quarry's walls. Some found the Schnee Company's actions despicable, others lauded them for their ingenuity in 'handling' the Faunus problem. Whatever the cause, it was one of the driving factors that led the White Fang to becoming the radical organization it had evolved into, with much of the peaceful members slaughtered at Lighthouse and only the war-hawks remaining to pick up the reigns.

"Got it in one," Orville answered, a wry smile twisting his lips. "But that's long past and I can't do a thing to change it, so I just look ahead and keep moving forward."

Yang looked troubled, her head bowed as her lilac eyes locked on clenched fists. "I'm sorry I brought that up," she said after what felt like a minute of silence.

"Don't sweat it," he said, waving away her apology. "Like I said, the past is the past. It only bothers me if I let it." At least, that's what he told himself. "Anyway, enough depressing bullshit. What's say we catch a movie before the last ferry back to Beacon?"

"Your treat, of course," Yang replied with a cheeky grin that was probably as much for her own sake as it was his.

"When has anything _not_ been my treat?" he sniped back, rolling his eyes. Ever since she'd found out Orville had more disposable income than he knew what to do with, Yang had made it her life's mission to spend as much of his lien as possible ("All for the good of the economy of course," she would always say afterward).

A loud splash from the fountain drew their attention to a sodden Ruby, who looked over at them with a damp, sheepish smile. One of the children she'd been playing with looked horrified, but the others were all cackling gleefully at her misfortune.

"Ruby, what the heck?" Yang yelped, jumping to her feet and slogging through the fountain to pick up her soaking-wet sister.

"Yucca fell down in front of me and I didn't want to hit her, so I jumped out of the way," Ruby explained, gesturing to the mortified girl, patting the poor little brunette on the head as they passed. "But I was going too fast so I ended up in the fountain."

"You're gonna catch a cold now," Yang sighed in exasperation as she set Ruby down, dripping water on the pavement. "Let's get back to Beacon so you can dry off. Hopefully this doesn't mess you up on the trip tomorrow."

"My apartment isn't too far from here," Orville offered hesitantly. "We could head over there so she could get into some dry clothes before she gets sick."

The two sisters looked at him curiously. "You have your own place?" Ruby asked. "Where's your parents?" Yang whacked Ruby over the head instinctively, causing the younger girl to glance up at her in indignant bewilderment. "What?"

"Er..." Yang looked to Orville askance, who shrugged indifferently. It didn't exactly matter to him if Ruby learned about his parents' grisly fate. It was up to Yang to decide whether or not she wanted Ruby to know. "Orville's an orphan."

Ruby sucked in a startled breath, her expression akin to someone who'd just bitten into a rotten lemon. Before she could gear up to explode into a thousand and one apologies as she'd done after the Hot Choco-Debacle, Orville placed his hands on her shoulders and steered her off down the street.

"You say sorry even once and I'll dunk you in the fountain again," he threatened. "Shit happens, Little Red. It just happens to me a lot more often than others."

They only had to walk a block and a half to get to the apartment building. The three-story edifice was very old, made of brick and mortar instead of the newer duracrete complexes. Orville's apartment was on the bottom floor, and was little more than a bedroom, a bathroom, and a kitchen.

"Sweet digs," Yang commented sarcastically when Orville flipped the switch. Despite the fact that he hadn't been there in quite a few months, everything was clean and orderly thanks to the cleaning lady Orville paid to tidy up once a week. He had two other places like this; one in Vacuo and the other in Menagerie, for when he needed some down-time after a big haul. Before meeting Winter Schnee, he'd considered finding somewhere in Atlas as well, but since making her acquaintanceship he'd reevaluated the shrewdness of such a plan, and scrapped any ideas about heading into Mistral as well, just to be safe.

"It gets the job done," Orville replied, pointing to one of two interior doors. "Towels are in the bathroom, and the other door's the bedroom. You should be able to find something to wear in the drawers."

Nodding, Ruby grabbed one of the big, fluffy towels he had on the rack and dashed into the room to divest herself of her soaked clothes.

"So how long have you had this place?" Yang asked, dropping onto the worn sofa while Orville checked the cabinets for some glasses.

"About...three years now?" Orville answered, trying to recall exactly when he started renting the apartment. "I'm never really here, though, what with all the moving around I do...or _did_."

"I've been wondering about something myself," Yang said, leaning against the arm of the couch as she watched him pour some water. "You said that you're like a world traveler or something, but what do you actually _do_? I mean, you have a ton of money so it's gotta be pretty lucrative."

"I was a wandering Dust merchant," replied Orville after quenching his thirst. It was technically true, too; when he visited the frontier towns on the way into Vale or Vacuo he would always supply them with quality Dust for much less than they'd spend on similar merchandise that came from the capital cities. "I found a big Dust deposit more or less in the middle of the Vytal Grimmlands a while back, and people always need Dust...it basically sells itself."

"An entrepreneur, huh? I guess it would be a pretty easy job with your Semblance," she commented idly. "I mean, other than all the Grimm and stuff."

"Mostly I just did it to get away from all the bullshit," he confessed with a light chuckle. "Nothing much to worry about out there. Now I've got the team, hanging out with you and Ruby...it's a big change."

"But change is good, though," Yang protested, kicking her feet up onto his wooden coffee table. "Otherwise there'd be no excitement."

"Well, it's never dull, that's for sure," Orville said dryly.

Ruby stepped out of the bedroom wearing a black long-sleeved t-shirt and insanely bright yellow sweatpants that made her look even smaller than she actually was. "Are dog Faunuses color-blind?" she asked bluntly. "These almost made me wanna gouge my own eyes out."

"Hey, my lucky sweats!" Orville perked up happily. "I thought I'd lost those in Menagerie!"

"What's so lucky about 'em?" Yang wondered, not quite able to stare directly at them.

"I was wearing those the first time I got lucky, duh."

"Was _she_ color-blind?" Ruby asked, plucking at the aggressively colored cloth.

Orville shot her a dirty look while she and Yang had a laugh at his expense. "Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, chucking a balled-up trash bag her way. "Toss your clothes in there and we'll get going."

"But none of the shoes fit," Ruby protested, lifting the pant legs to show the black socks with golden toes and heels. "I can't go around barefoot in the middle of autumn."

"I'm pretty sure I've got some duct-tape we could use to make moccasins," Orville began, then cut himself off at Ruby's glare. "Or Yang could piggy-back you."

"But my feet are _killing_ me," Yang complained, pointing at said appendages to emphasize her words. "Plus, Ruby ate a ton of cookies, she's probably gained at least twenty pounds."

"Are you calling me fat, sister dearest?" Ruby pouted.

"I woulda thought that was pretty obvious," returned Yang offhand. "I might be worn out, but I'm sure Corndog's up to it."

Any irritation at being accused of obesity vanished as Ruby turned pleading eyes on Orville, who immediately spun to face the wall instead of his friend. "I'll do it, but only if you never give me that face ever again for as long as we live," he bargained.

Her fairly insignificant weight settled onto his back not a second later as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Deal!" she answered happily, sticking her hand in front of him so he could shake it. Rolling his eyes, he obliged her nevertheless. "Yang, can you carry my bag?"

"Sure thing, Rubes," the blonde said. "Now let's get back to the docks before we're forced to hike back to Beacon."

The trip back to the airships were relatively uneventful (disregarding the ill-thought-out attempted mugging which Yang quickly put an end to). They arrived not a moment too soon and dutifully lined up with the rest of the students returning to the school. It was only once they were on the ferry that Orville realized Ruby had fallen asleep (though the silence should have been a big clue).

With Yang's help, they managed to get her to relinquish her grip around his neck and into a relatively comfortable position between them.

"So," Yang said once they'd taken off. "Did you have fun tonight?"

"Course I did," Orville replied. "I always have fun with you guys. I mean, except for that one day we tried shawarma. I had terrible gas for the rest of the week."

"Oh, _that's_ what that smell was," she chuckled. "We thought Blake had hidden some tuna and forgot about it; spent the whole day turning our dorm inside out to find it." He snickered along with her, though likely for different reasons. "By the way, I didn't know you played guitar."

That shut him up quickly; it wasn't quite a secret, but he didn't exactly announce it to the world, either. "How did you...ah, what I mean was, I can't play guitar." He tried for a laugh that ended up making him sound more like a nervous mouse.

"Then how come there was one in your apartment?" Yang riposted, raising an unimpressed eyebrow. "Or those pictures of you and some old Faunus playing together?"

Orville winced; he really needed to stop underestimating Yang and her perceptiveness. "You see, what had happened was...um..." He sighed, leaning his head back against the window. "Okay, I can play the guitar. Are you happy now?"

"Immensely," she answered with a smile that threatened to break her face in half. "Who's the old dude?"

"That'd be Gin," Orville said, feeling his own lips twitch upward. "He sort of raised me after...well, you know. Taught me just about everything I know, even unlocked my Aura when I was eleven." He failed to elaborate that 'everything' included the proper way to evade wall guards and spotting which officials were most likely to be corrupt.

"Is he...er, still around?" Yang inquired hesitantly, probably still worried she might bring up unwanted memories.

"I'm sure that old bastard will still be around _long_ after I'm gone," Orville snorted at the thought of Gin dying. "It'll take a lot more than advanced age and mild dementia to kill him. He bought a farm in the Agricultural District here in Vale after he retired."

"The Agricultural District, you say," Yang hummed almost to herself. "I see." Her eyes moved toward the front window and said, "Beacon's coming up. Grab Ruby." Orville considered tossing the sleeping girl over his shoulder but instead picked her up in a bridal carry while Yang led the way off the ship.

The walk back to the dorms was quiet, and Orville was grateful to see their corridor coming up. He'd never say it aloud, but Ruby _was_ surprisingly heavy after a while of carrying her.

Yang opened the door and let him through, saying, "Just toss her up onto her bed, Corndog."

Orville made to comply when he took notice of the travesty that was Team RWBY's sleeping arrangement. Ruby's bed was suspended from the ceiling via a series of ropes over Weiss' bed while Yang's bed was perched atop stacks of books set upon Blake's bed posters. All they needed was a good two-oh earthquake to set off a chain reaction of doom.

"Okay, first of all, no," he scolded, setting Ruby on a nearby chair where her head lolled off to the side. "Second of all, _hell_ no. Edelweiss, I would have thought _you_ might have had something to say about this."

Weiss, who had been sneaking looks through the mirror of her vanity while she brushed her hair out, glared at her teammates. "I _did_ have something to say, but unfortunately my team practices democracy and I was outvoted."

"And you went along with this?" Orville asked Blake, who shrugged indifferently.

"It's familiar to me," the cat Faunus replied, and Orville had to remind himself that she'd been a member of the White Fang, where room was tight and the compounds' sleeping quarters were stuffed with bunk beds, even in the good old days.

"Oh God, grant me patience," Orville heaved a massive sigh. "Okay. Okay, I can work with this. One moment." He pulled out his scroll and dialed in Nora's number.

The hammer-wielding maniac picked up on the second ring. "Howdy, Glorious Leader! How's the date going? Are you getting lucky?"

"No, Nora, but thanks for asking. Listen, could you bring Ren and Pyrrha over to the RWBY room? We're gonna do some remodeling, so bring Magnhild too."

Team RWBY looked up in trepidation when Nora's shout of, "INTERIOR DECORATING!" rang across from the other side of the hall. In short order, the rest of his team was standing in the room as well, gazing in horror at the deathtrap. Well, Nora seemed about ready to take a flying leap toward Ruby's bed, and only Orville's stern look stopped her.

The first order of business was to get the top beds back onto the floor, which took a lot more effort than it should have; Ruby had really done a number on those ropes. Next they took the mattresses out of the frames and proceeded to allow Nora to work her magic on the wood, transfiguring them from well-crafted pieces of furniture to toothpicks and tinder in less than two minutes.

After tossing the splintered bed frames out the window, Orville hopped out himself and returned with a bunch of stone he'd quarried from the Cliffs and formed a pair of sturdy bunk beds that wouldn't fall and kill someone.

Then, and _only_ then did Orville grab Ruby, who was still knocked out (and how she'd slept through all the gleeful cackling from Nora as she impersonated a wrecking ball was anyone's guess), and hurled her up onto her new bed, where she clutched at her pillow and snored on (seriously, he needed to know how she could stay asleep so effortlessly).

"There," he said with the smug feeling of a job well done. "Now I can sleep without worrying about somebody being crushed to death by furniture. Goldilocks, I had a great time; Edelweiss, Sugar Britches, see you guys tomorrow for the trip. Orange Peel, we out."

And with that said, he and Nora backed out of the room with arms crossed, leaving Pyrrha and Ren made a more typical egress (the traitors; they'd _practiced_ the cool exit!).

* * *

Orville handed off a jar full of red tree sap to Pyrrha and then shot a stone needle to his right, shattering the one Nora was about to chug down. "Blitz, I said two, remember?"

"But that _was_ only two," whined Nora, staring forlornly down at the pieces of glass. Orville raised an eyebrow, and she wilted slightly. "Okay, it _may_ have been four..."

The Forever Fall Forest was a masterpiece of Mother Nature, with eternally crimson leaves and pale trees that stretched from the outskirts of Vale and across the mountains, reaching toward the sea. Orville would have taken a deep, fortifying breath that might have brought him all the delicious scents of the uncivilized world, with only a mild taint of Dust exhaust floating on the breeze from the city. Would have, since he was apparently allergic to the damn sap they were collecting and his body reacted by stuffing up his nose.

Of course, he had to learn this right before he'd be meeting with a virtually unknown enemy soon enough with Frikkin' Jaune as his only back-up. It had been a difficult choice, but the only way Orville could come up with to get away from his team and RWBY was for Jaune to ask for his help with 'something over there'. He kind of felt like a doofus for not being able to think of a better plan, but the thought of meeting with Cinder and God knew who else she decided to bring by himself was an intimidating prospect.

Sure, he was in his element (literally), but Cinder had probably learned about his abilities from Roman as soon as the scroll call had ended and took appropriate measures to mitigate his advantage. But he wasn't an idiot, either. He'd prepared himself as best he could without alerting his friends to what he was up to, and though he'd only gotten the coordinates half an hour ago, he'd spent a bit of time researching the terrain and was fairly certain he could make use of the environment effectively if worse came to worst.

Having a lauded Huntsman at his side was a plus, too. Orville hadn't seen Jaune in action yet, but just his demeanor and his carriage made it abundantly clear the guy could hold his own in a fight. He just hoped it would be enough to dissuade Cinder from crisping them both on sight.

"Mr. Doyle." Think of the devil...

Orville turned to see Jaune, who had volunteered as a chaperone on the field trip alongside Goodwitch, waving him over. "Yeah?"

"I'd like you to help me with a minor Grimm problem over this way, please," Jaune said, jerking his thumb behind him.

"I'll come with you," Pyrrha offered, screwing the cap onto their last jar, but Orville shook his head.

"Stay here and make sure Blitz doesn't finish off all the sap we collected," he said, shooting Ren a mild glare. "PJ wouldn't even bat an eyelash if she did." Ren didn't even deny it, instead giving them a weak shrug. "You're my second-in-command, Champ. I trust you."

Pyrrha didn't look convinced, but nodded anyway. "Alright. Be careful, okay?"

Orville grinned over his shoulder as he followed Jaune. "When am I ever _not_ careful?"

"Lunch three days ago," Ren supplied unhelpfully.

"That was partially Baby Bird's fault and you know it," Orville retorted. "Don't burn down the forest while I'm gone!"

Once they were out of earshot, Orville pointed them toward the right direction, shooting snot rockets into the undergrowth in an attempt at clearing his sinuses. "Fucking tree jizz," he growled, irritated.

"You're allergic to the sap, too?" Jaune gave an odd smile. "That's certainly a strange coincidence."

"Ain't we just two peas in a pod," Orville returned sarcastically. "Get your head in the game, Arc... _Jaune_ ," he sneered when the professor gave him a look. "The meeting place is at the edge of a cliff that overlooks the railroad. If things go south jump the cliff, and I'll cover our escape."

"And just how do you suppose you'll do that?" Jaune asked. It wasn't really a snide comment, just a simple question, but Orville bristled anyway. Something about Arc just made him thoroughly uncomfortable, and no matter how much he deliberated on the subject, Orville couldn't put his nose on the problem.

"My Semblance is Geomancy," he said, biting back a venomous comment; he could dislike Arc all he wanted, but they were on an important mission and there was no time for childishness. "I can control earth and stone with my Aura. So when we jump off the cliff, I'll block their path and catapult us back to the general direction of the rest of the students."

"So the criminal mastermind and her goons can take a shot at my charges?" Jaune shot back, a challenge in his voice.

"So we can warn them to get the hell out while we hold Cinder and whoever else she brings back," Orville corrected through gritted teeth. "Goodwitch'll be there too, so she can help with the crowd control."

"Do you suppose the other students will simply sit and twiddle their thumbs while all this happens?"

Orville grimaced, but pulled out his block of Tiger's Eye. "This'll shut 'em up pretty easily." Jaune nodded, likely having heard what the Dust did from Goodwitch. "Now, you know my Semblance, what about yours?"

Jaune fell into silence for a moment, and Orville took the time to study his 'partner'. Now that he really looked, Orville could see that the professor looked like he'd been running himself ragged for the past few weeks. It wasn't really noticeable during class, but up close the dark circles under Jaune's eyes and the slight slump of his broad shoulders were like neon signs pointing to his exhaustion.

"My Aura granted me a much more... _esoteric_ ability than most," Arc said quietly. "I actually haven't used it in quite a while, and I'm somewhat reluctant to do so again. A side-effect of my Semblance is a sort of healing ability, though, so if you get wounded I can patch you up fairly quickly."

Orville bowed his head as he thought. It wasn't much of a boon during an actual battle, but having a medic on hand would probably come in handy during the aftermath, and it wasn't like a person's Semblance was _all_ they were good for. He only tended to think like that since his own combat style was focused almost exclusively around Geomancy.

Shaking his head, he pointed at a gap between the trees where a group of people stood at the precipice of a bluff that overlooked a vast expanse of Forever Fall's blood-red canopy. "Ready?"

Jaune nodded silently, and together they stepped out past the treeline.

The very first thing he noticed was that Cinder was absolutely _stunning_. With her pale skin, long dark hair, and wicked golden eyes, Orville could definitely see just how she'd initially brought Roman under her thrall. The sheer presence she radiated explained how she'd kept the thief subjugated. Her beautifully-formed body was wrapped in a sinfully tight red dress bearing yellow designs, while a black gem glinted from a gold hoop on her right ear.

Standing to her immediate right was a dark-skinned girl who seemed to be roughly Orville's age with mint-green hair and deep crimson eyes, wearing an outfit more suited to Vacuo than Vale's mountainous climate. At her hips, a pair of pistol-shaped weapons were holstered. On Cinder's left was a tall young man whose color scheme was almost entirely gray. He had no visible weapons on him, but Orville noted the bulk of the boots he wore.

Off to the side stood a man wearing a black suit and what looked like a Grimm's mask covering the upper half of his face while red hair and dark horns poked out above it. He held a sheathed blade in his hand, finger just near a trigger on the scabbard, and held himself stiffly.

The final unknown was a diminutive-looking girl whose hair was split between pink and brown, with white streaks cutting through the pink. Her eyes were mismatched and swirled wildly between the same colors of her hair, and she leaned casually upon a lacy umbrella.

Last, and likely least (Orville was still a little miffed), of the group was Roman, sitting on a folding chair he'd likely brought along for himself while Melodic Cudgel lay across his knees.

As soon as Orville's eyes met Cinder's glittering amber, his instincts screamed at him to run as fast and far away from this woman as possible, but he forced himself to stay calm. Showing weakness at this early juncture would likely end in his horrifying death.

"Cinder Fall," he said, coming to a halt several meters away. Jaune took up position on his right silently, one hand on the pommel of his sword. "I've gotta say, I didn't picture you looking so good, though it does explain a few things about how Roman joined your little cadre." He gestured to the blonde beside him. "This is Jaune, a professor at the school and an associate of mine."

The dark-haired woman dipped her head once in acknowledgement. "It's a pleasure to meet the both of you," she replied almost cordially, though a flash of something dangerous passed through her gaze momentarily. "These fine people here are Emerald, Mercury, Adam and Neopolitan. And of course, you already know dear Roman."

Orville cracked a grin as he sketched a lazy salute toward the ginger. "How they hangin' Pumpkin Spice?"

"Dangling by my vasa deferentia, Spot," Torchwick answered, leaning back in his chair.

Rolling his eyes, Orville reached for the handles of the Dynamic Duo. Mercury and Emerald stepped forward, but Cinder stopped them with a single look, allowing Orville to draw his weapons and toss them to the ground before unbuckling his utility belt and doing the same.

Then he lifted a block of stone between the two parties and a pair of chairs, moving the one closest to Cinder out slightly and taking his own.

"Let's get down to business, then," Orville said, pulling out four scraps of paper and setting it down in front of him on the make-shift table.

Cinder's eyes gleamed with a devilish cunning as she slowly, confidently settled herself into the seat, humming appreciatively as she stroked the armrest, not once making any indication of unease at positioning herself where he could easily strike at her. "You have excellent control if you can make this with a simple stomp of your foot, Orville. The lumbar support alone is divine."

Orville accepted the compliment with a twitch of his lips, reaching for his wellspring of nonchalance. "I do my best," he said humbly. "Now, we both know why we're here." He took one of the papers and slid it across to her. "That's my own team. We _will_ get one of the spots set to represent Vale in the Vytal Tournament, that's a guarantee. These three are the other teams that will get the spots. They haven't been chosen yet, but the outcomes of the qualifiers won't be a surprise."

Cinder's eyes darted about, collecting the information before turning it to ash with a single touch. "I can see why you have such faith in your team's chances," she said. "The others?"

Clicking his tongue in disappointment, Orville leaned back and crossed his legs upon the table. "Ms. Fall, I would have hoped you'd be a little cleverer than that. ORNP's profile was a gift to let you know that I deal in good faith. Now I'd like to know what your interest in the Vytal Festival is."

"Perhaps I might believed your show of 'good faith' if you didn't have more of your people hiding in the trees," Cinder returned with a raised eyebrow.

Frowning, Orville glanced to Arc, who shrugged in confusion. "What do you mean?"

In answer, Cinder snapped her fingers twice. After half a minute, Orville heard multiple footsteps crunching through the foliage and soon enough a group of Faunus bearing White Fang surcoats and masks marched forward from the trees, dropping the bound and gagged members of Team CRDL unceremoniously before them.

Jaune sucked in a startled breath as Orville blinked twice, fighting to keep his breathing even as he rose from the table and stepped over to the incapacitated students. They were all conscious and looking around with a healthy dose of fear at the gathering.

"God dammit, Baby Bird."

* * *

 **After-Action Report:** Son of a bitch, Cardin. Just couldn't keep your big beak out of other people's business, could you? I know at least one reviewer figured out that Cardin had dropped a few eaves on Orville's scroll call at the end of last chapter, but since this story will be strictly from Orville's perspective I couldn't well show Cardin make the Evil Finger Pyramid of Scheming, now could I?

So Orville is slowly getting used to the idea of having more than two people give a shit about him, even if Yang and Ruby are sort of overdoing it. Team ORNP have their own reservations about how closed off their leader is, but Ren and Nora are orphans so they have a vague idea about why Orville doesn't wanna talk while Pyrrha is in roughly the same boat as Orville, having had no experience with true companionship, so she's still hesitant about how to get her partner to open up without offending him.

Yang and Ruby are different. Yang, at least is a very Type A kind of person. She draw people toward her just with her presence, and her looks don't hurt either so she's always been surrounded by friends and 'friends'. And while Ruby isn't as socially suave as her sister she still had people she called friends back at Signal. She might be a little inept at making good first impressions but she knows how to be a good buddy.

Orville's guitar playing and the fact that he's allergic to the tree sap is no coincidence, and another point toward figuring out just what the hell's going on with Jaune.

Plus, we get to learn a little more about Orville's past. Poor dude, his creator must be one hell of a D-Bag.

And finally, Cinder and her Band of Maniacs. There'll be a lot more next chapter, so don't worry about that. Nor should you worry about what sort of information Orville has planned to give to Cinder since that, too, will have more light shed on it in the next update or so.

Questions, comments, criticisms, and flames are all appreciated. Anything I forgot to mention can be brought up in a review or PM. Thanks to everyone who's alerted and favorited, and most especially reviewed already.

Until next time, have a great day!


	6. I'll Be There For You

**Author's Note:** Hello again, everyone. Very short chapter today, the shortest to date, in fact. Why, you might ask, have I put so little effort into this week's update? Well, remember how I said I was helping my sick sister deal with her sick infant? Yeah, well, the thing is, sickness has this annoying tendency to sort of spread. So now I'm leaking from all orifices and feeling pretty miserable. The fact that the weather in California is acting pretty bi-polar has only exacerbated the situation.

Also, I always get super-bummed-out whenever a good show I watch comes to a season finale, and RWBY is no different. Though what a way to end it! Another part of the reason this chapter is so short is because I was once again assaulted by tons of different ideas when it comes to this story (and a few other outlines forming in my head).

It's not my best, but it's still mine. So enjoy!

 **Disclaimer** and **Warning** still apply from the first chapter.

* * *

Chapter 6: I'll Be There For You

* * *

"God dammit, Baby Bird," Orville hissed, focusing his entire being on _not_ face-palming in front of the diabolical criminals. What in Dust's name were these idiots even doing here? No, that wasn't the question he needed to be asking himself. He needed to be trying to work out how to get them away from here, preferably in one piece and hopefully still breathing.

 _Think-think-think-think..._

"I see you've brought the White Fang to heel," he said in an attempt at buying time. "Did they follow you home or was it an adoption?"

Cinder's lips curled in amusement even as the redheaded bull Faunus (Adelle? Adrian?) snarled in a very un-bovine manner. "I like to think of it as a mutual partnership," she answered diplomatically.

"I'm just surprised, is all," Orville explained, shooting an unapologetic smirk at the masked weirdo. "I didn't expect the Fang to decide that working with human criminals was in the best interests of their cause."

"And what would _you_ know about our cause, scum?" the bull snapped.

"Adam," Cinder's tone was light, but the command was could be heard by a deaf person. The redhead shut up immediately, but his jaw was clenched tightly and his mouth was drawn into a thin line of disgust.

"Yes, A- _dumb_ , kindly put a cork in it while the predators are talking," Orville added, just to see what the other Faunus would do. He was disappointed when Adam kept his silence; only his fists clenching tightly around the hilt of his blade indicated his mood.

"So we both had people in hiding," Orville continued, jerking his head toward CRDL and the White Fang grunts. "That simply shows that neither of us are complete idiots." The fact that Cardin and his team actually _weren't_ part of his plan was left unsaid. "Now, back to the matter at hand."

"I think an explanation of why you chose to use Beacon students as underlings is in order first," Cinder disagreed. "They aren't even that skilled, if they were so easily detained."

Sighing, Orville nodded as he pushed a second slip of paper across the table toward her. "Team CRDL," Orville said. "I took them under my wing in order to raise the chances of someone affiliated with us being in a favorable position during the tournament. I'm still unsure of what your plan is, but I figured you might appreciate the sentiment. Even if they aren't exactly top-tier mook material."

Cardin, the fucking idiot, decided that was the moment to let his indignation override his terror and began shouting what Orville assumed were muffled curses from behind his gag. "Actually, if you would kindly excuse me for just a minute...?"

Smiling benevolently (an effect ruined by the calculating gleam in her eyes), Cinder gestured gracefully for him to proceed.

Orville strode over to the bound teens, placing himself between them and the White Fang members before waving Jaune over as well. Then he raised four thick walls around them in a pyramid to form a completely dark, soundproof room in the middle of the forest.

Pulling out a Sunstone ball and willing it to shed some light for them, Orville quickly knelt down near Cardin's face.

"Now listen up and listen good, Cardin," Orville growled loudly enough for the others to hear as well. "You just stumbled into something you shouldn't have ever known about, let alone become party to. You led not only yourself, but your team into the worst kind of danger and you're so far in over your head you will never be able to keep them from being killed in a violent, painful manner here. Not by yourself.

"I am going to try to help you out of this mess, but you'll have to do exactly as I say and play along. Otherwise, we're all done for. That woman out there is a hazard to Vale at the very least, and I'm not going to have you screw up any chance of us being able to stop whatever she's got planned. Do you understand?"

Cardin's eyes had gone from furious and defiant to self-loathing and unsure before settling back to horrified throughout Orville's monologue. When the question came, he only hesitated for a moment before nodding once. The others, seeing their leader's acquiesence, did the same while Jaune looked on neutrally.

"Alright, now get up." A stomp on the ground lifted sharp spikes that tore through their bindings, allowing them to rise and remove their gags. "How the fuck did you even know to come here, anyway?"

"I heard your call on the roof last week," Cardin said, glancing at his team. "Our dorm's right below it. We were planning on throwing sap at you and dropping a box of Rapier Wasps on you when you separated from your team, but then you went off with Professor Arc so we followed..."

Orville struck Cardin on the forehead with the heel of his hand, hoping to knock a bit of sense into the idiot's head. "Think next time, Baby Bird. You're a leader, and you need to take that responsibility seriously."

Cardin's jaw muscle leapt as he clenched his teeth. "This trip has made that abundantly clear," he ground out, looking down at his feet in anger and shame.

"I'm going to drop this room and you're gonna do exactly as I say, right?" Orville prompted, eliciting bobbing heads from CRDL. After making sure to stare them all down until they broke eye-contact, he pushed the stone walls back down into the ground and settled back into his seat across from Cinder, who kept her eyes on the four boys.

"Sorry about that," Orville apologized. "I've only just finished crate-training them; good help is increasingly difficult to find these days."

"I can certainly sympathize," Cinder commiserated with a quick flick of her eyes toward Roman and the White Fang. "I must say, I do admire your initiative in securing more spots for our interests in the tournament, though the fact that these four are among the best Vale has to offer must say something about Beacon's ability in training their students."

"Yeah," Orville grimaced as he thought about the curriculum. "Makes me glad I never went to school before I got suckered into it." He shot Roman a dirty glare. "But that's what I get for having no self-control, I suppose."

"We've all overindulged at least once," she assured him with a sharp smile. "It's just fortunate for me that your slip-up granted me such a resourceful and intuitive asset as yourself."

Orville smiled and flapped a hand at her while fighting the urge to gag. "You're going to make me blush, Ms. Fall. Yet you still haven't given me any information about your plans concerning the Vytal Festival."

"Come now, I thought we were enjoying our little chat," Cinder purred, clicking her nails against the stone tabletop. "Have you ever yearned for true freedom, Orville Doyle?"

"With every waking moment I'm forced to stay at Beacon," he replied candidly. "If I could, I'd be as far from here as possible, maybe somewhere on a nice beach in Vacuo. But freedom is fleeting, and nobody every gets what they want in this world."

"What if I told you that my benefactor could give Remnant that independence?" The criminal leaned forward, offering him an enticing view down her off-the-shoulder dress. He would have gladly taken the invitation were it any other situation (and even still he had to consciously keep his eyes on hers). "What if all the world was free to live and die at their own convenience, untroubled by beaurocracy and government meddling?"

"Sounds like you're working for some kind of demigod," he said, once more trying to find some sort of method to Cinder's madness. "Or someone with an insane amount of power and influence to be able to pull that kind of revolution off."

"Oh, you think too small, Orville," she smirked. "My master is a _god_ , one who has walked this planet for aeons beyond count."

"There's only one god I've ever seen evidence of," Orville said bluntly. "Her name is Death, and there's only one thing I've got to say to that bitch."

"Not today," the White Fang members whispered simultaneously, forming a claw sign with their index, middle, and ring fingers over their hearts. Even Adam made the gesture, though he didn't actually say anything.

Cinder's eyebrow rose at her underlings, glancing toward Orville for an explanation.

"It's a Faunus thing," he said with a shrug. "My mom used to tell me that all the time before Lighthouse." There was more grumbling from the White Fang at the mention of the massacre. "All anyone can do is run from Death, even someone as obviously powerful as you, Cinder Fall."

"An amusing belief," she murmured, her face looking momentarily troubled for the first time. "However, our plans for the Vytal Festival will shake all of Remnant's faith in whomever they pray to. It will only be the first step in bringing balance to the world."

She rose, to her feet and placed both palms flat on the table, where the stone began to turn cherry-red as heat waves bent the air into interesting patterns. Orville grabbed up the remaining slips of paper and watched as the red areas grew and bubbled until the entire table literally _melted_ into a puddle of lava.

"You have a choice, Orville," Cinder said, staring deep into his eyes. "You can either join us and be a part of our new Remnant..."

"...or perish along with the rest, yadda-yadda," Orville finished, rolling his eyes and breaking their gaze. "Yeah, alright, I know how it works." He walked around the blistering remains of his conference table and held out the papers, which she took with a vicious smile.

"I'm glad we could come to an accord," she said, tucking the information into her dress. "It would have been such a waste to kill you." Cinder turned and began to walk away, not bothering to look back. "I'll be in touch, and we'll begin to coordinate our efforts starting tomorrow."

She disappeared into the treeline, and the other members of her little group of merry mayhem-incitors followed after her. Roman was the last to leave, and he offered Orville a single nod before vanishing after her.

Orville waited for a full two minutes before exhaling loudly and dropping back into the chair.

"Doyle, what the fuck just happened?" Cardin asked tentatively.

"Looks like we just got entangled in an international conspiracy, Baby Bird."

* * *

Orville sat on his bed in Team ORNP's dorm room, tinkering with Obsidian's breach hinge. He purposefully ignored the other eleven people in there, some (RWY and Nora) arguing with others (CRDL), while some, (Ren and Blake) tried their best to emulate him. Pyrrha rested beside him, having given up asking him why he'd gathered them there a few minutes ago.

A knock on the door signalled the last member of the meeting's arrival. Yang opened the door and let Jaune in, much to the others' confusion.

"Everyone's here, Orville," Pyrrha said quietly with a hint of impatience. "Can you explain what's going on now?"

With a sigh, Orville set Obsidian on his bedside table and got to his feet. Through the entire bullhead ride back to Beacon, he'd debated with himself whether or not he should say anything, but after deciding that he needed to spell out the situation to CRDL he realized that he'd also need to do so for his team and RWBY as well. And since Jaune had been at the criminal pow-wow as well...

"Alright. Um, I suppose you're all wondering what's going on," he began.

"You're damn right we are," Yang interrupted, jabbing an agressive thumb at CRDL. "What are these ass-hats doing here?"

"Well, they're part of the reason," Orville said, frowning at the offending team. Only Dove had the grace to look sheepish, though that may have been because Sky and Russel were still half-terrified from their encounter with Crazy McPsycho Bitch and Cardin was still deep in troubled thought.

"So, first of all, I'd like to let you all know a little something about myself." He scratched his chin, mostly to stave off having to say it. "I...shouldn't exactly be here."

"What do you mean?" Ruby scoffed. "You're definitely strong enough to make the cut as a Huntsman."

"No, what I meant is, the transcripts I used to come to Beacon in the first place are faked, I think." He glanced to Jaune, who nodded, an almost wistful look flickering across his face.

"Most of the staff is aware of it, anyway," he supplied.

"But...why?" Ruby asked.

"Well, as it happens, I never went to a Hunter prep school, or passed some entrance exam to get here. To be perfectly honest, I don't particularly _like_ Hunters, or at least I didn't before I met you guys. Excluding Team DCLR (Dick-Licker) over there. See, the thing is...I'm a," he winced in anticipation, "a Dust smuggler."

"Like the famous Gin Solo!?" Nora exclaimed excitedly. "My mom used to tell me stories about his daring adventures all the time!"

"Wait, Gin..." Yang scowled as she turned to face Orville. "So you lied to me?"

"Technically speaking, I didn't lie," he sighed, running a hand through his hair anxiously. "I _did_ sell Dust to the outer villages and outposts, and on the cheap. Way better than the shit the SDC shipped out to them, no offense," he added to Weiss, whose face had become an interesting shade of puce. "But I also brought Dust into Vale, Vacuo, and Menagerie by...less than legal means."

"So you lied," Yang concluded, her eyes flashing red briefly. "Are you even an orphan?" Orville simply nodded, feeling shame well up in his gut.

"Who supplied you with the false transcripts?" Jaune asked, trying to divert the conversation back to its original purpose.

"Roman Torchwick," he replied, and Ruby gasped, looking at him like she'd never truly seen him before. It made his insides clench painfully. "He was my only friend before you, Ruby. The day before we met, I'd just gotten back from a run and had a few drinks with him to celebrate. Turns out, he roped me into something that I didn't quite understand until today. Hell, I _still_ don't understand most of it."

"You're a criminal, then," Ruby snapped, the accusation causing Orville to flinch. "You steal and lie and cheat and you don't even _care_!"

Each word was like a knife in his heart, but he nodded nonetheless, too cowardly to meet her eyes. Everything she said was right, and he was tired of denying her the truth.

The sharp scent of salt made him look up. Tears had welled up in Ruby's silvery eyes, and her expression was torn between fury and heart-wrenching sorrow. Without another word, she dashed out the door, slamming it hard enough to send dust falling from the ceiling. Yang glanced back at him, lavender eyes conflicted, before she followed her sister out.

"Blake, please stay and hear him out," Weiss muttered quietly before leaving as well.

Orville felt an iron band wrap around his heart and clench _hard_. He had to bite down on the inside of his cheek sharply to stave off the black despair welling up within him, and went back to the explanation.

"A week ago," he continued, clearing his throat to rid it of of the taut feeling, "A week ago, I got a call from Roman. He said his boss wanted to meet with me, and today was when we held it."

"That's why you left in the forest," Nora said softly, unnaturally somber.

Orville nodded. "Jaune and I came to an arrangement after that first day; he's been trying to uncover a conspiracy for a while now, and he and I went alone."

"We would have helped you, Orville," Pyrrha murmured, laying a hand on his shoulder. Orville offered her a weak smile, grateful for the support.

"I know you would have," he replied. "But I had to gauge their strength before ever putting my team in danger. That's my job as leader." He tried to offer her a reassuring grin, then sighed and turned back to the others. "Anyway, their leader, a woman named Cinder Fall, gave me a task. I was to compile a dossier on the teams I believed would qualify for the four Vale spots in the Vytal Tournament, and in return she would give me an overview of their goals."

"She and the person she works for have an end-game of destroying all civilization," Jaune took up the tale. "Cinder believes that her boss is a physical god. Have you all ever heard of the Tale of the Four Maidens?"

Even Orville was confused by this. Jaune went on to tell the story of a lonesome old wizard whose life was brightened by four young women and rewarded them with powers over the elements. It was a nice little legend, but what that had to do with their situation was anyone's guess.

"That story, like several notable myths has a basis in fact," Jaune said gravely. "Cinder Fall and some of her associates recently fatally wounded the current Fall Maiden and sapped half of her powers through unknown means." His gaze traveled across all of them, stopping on Blake for a moment before returning to Orville. "It's likely she used that power to subjugate the White Fang and intimidate Roman into following her as well."

"So she's basically a demigod with the power over wind?" Pyrrha looked queasy. CRDL, Nora, and Ren didn't seem much better, while Blake's eyes had grown wide.

"And lightning, and rain," Jaune nodded. "The Fall Maiden's powers stem from the storms of Remnant. Even just having half of that power makes Cinder unbelievably dangerous."

"And that's without her own Semblance or whatever that heat ability was," Cardin spoke for the first time since they'd left the meeting in the forest. They all lapsed into silence while each of them pondered the situation.

"What sort of information did you give her?" Blake asked after a long moment.

"The basics of everyone's combat abilities," Orville said with a scowl. "The only dossier I gave her everything for was my own, and that was only to keep her from becoming too suspicious of me. Everyone else I only put down the bare minimum that she'd probably be able to find out from other sources."

Jaune raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "So you gave away all your trump cards in order to appease the woman we're trying to take down? Do I even need to tell you how many things are wrong with your thought process?"

"It'd be kinda hard to kill this psycho if I'm _dead_ , Arc," Orville snapped back. "You think I liked spilling all my secrets to that sexy villain?" He stopped to think about his phrasing before deciding to stand by it. "And a big, bad, fully-certified Huntsman like you should know that I can just come up with some new shit. I'm the master of improvisation and creativity. It shouldn't take long until I've got a brand-new extra-large bag of assorted tricks."

"And just what do you think you can accomplish with your Semblance and skills that Cinder won't be able to anticipate now that she knows how they work?" Jaune countered. "She's probably coming up with contingencies for things you haven't even thought up yet, and it'll only be a matter of time before she'll be able to neutralize you completely."

"Well that's why he has a team, Professor," Nora piped up, leaping to her feet and jabbing a thumb into her chest. "This crazy lady might have an idea about how our Glorious Leader thinks, but four heads are better than one!"

"She's right," Ren added, nodding stolidly. "Orville, we'll help you figure this out, and if needs be, we'll stand by you against Cinder." Pyrrha said nothing, but the steady hand pressed against his back was all the confirmation he needed from her.

Orville felt a sudden rush of emotion towards his team and had to duck his head so they wouldn't see the prickles of moisture forming in his eyes. He hadn't truly cried in a very long time, and he wiped the happy tears away quickly. "Thanks, guys," he said, trying to convey just how much their support meant.

"For what it's worth," said Dove, straightening up from his slumped position against the wall, "I'd like to help, too."

"Same here," Cardin agreed, glancing toward his other two teammates who bobbed their heads in accord. "We fucked up today. I'm totally at fault here, and as much as I hate to admit it, I owe you big-time. Not just for saving my ass, but for keeping my team safe when I couldn't." He let out a bitter chuckle. "I don't know _what_ exactly we can do, but just give us the word."

Orville grinned at the all-male team. "We're all gonna need to step up our game if that meeting has shown me anything. I have no idea how strong those lackeys of Cinder's are, but she treated Roman as the least of them, and he's no pushover." He turned to Blake. "Do you know a guy named Adam? Bull Faunus with red hair and a bad attitude?"

The dark-haired woman's stoic demeanor faltered for a brief second as she processed his question before it slammed back down into place over a stricken expression. "I...knew him, yes," she said in a flat voice. Orville frowned, but didn't comment. "He's a quick-draw expert, and powerful enough to take down a Spider Droid in one hit."

Orville grimaced. Iaido was a bitch to counter, especially for someone like him. Roman's style, which revolved mainly around Melodic Cudgel, was also nothing to scoff at, and he didn't even _know_ what the others could do, never mind Cinder's skills. This would take some thinking.

"For now," Jaune said, interrupting his thoughts, "you all need to get some rest. Your training will no doubt start tomorrow and will likely not stop for the foreseeable future. Don't forget that you're students, so you'll need all your strength to get through your normal routine on top of whatever you come up with."

He stood, one hand on Crocea Mors. "Orville, you did good today. I might not have been able to think up that bluff as quickly as you did." He offered the room at large a slightly strained smile. "Good night, everyone. I'll see you tomorrow."

"We'd better get going, too," Cardin muttered. He and his team shuffled through the door without a backwards glance, followed by Blake.

The cat Faunus paused at the door and looked back. "We'll help, too, in case that wasn't already implied," she said, almost consolingly. "I don't know why Ruby reacted like that, but I'm sure she'll come around soon."

Orville heaved a sigh as the door closed and ran his hand through his hair again, pulling the elastic band out as it went. This was supposed to be a simple meet and greet (with the possibility of 'beat and cheat' added in somewhere), but things had spiraled out of control incredibly quickly. He had barely even gotten an inkling of what Cinder was planning for the Vytal Festival, which had been the whole damn point of this venture.

The support from his team (as well as the unexpected bonus of CRDL and Blake) was heartwarming and all, but the whole idea had been to keep them out of this mess. Now, with ORNP, CRDL, and perhaps RWBY (a part of him desperately hoped Ruby _never_ forgave him, if only to keep them away from the danger), had been dropped right in the thick of the shit-storm.

He needed to get better. Fighting Grimm and duping border control had made him complacent, and that was possibly more dangerous than not being ready in the first place. Cinder and her underlings were trying to start some sort of worldwide revolution if his guesses were correct, and he was hilariously under-equipped to handle such a thing.

As he pulled the sheets over his head in an effort to block out any outside stimuli, Orville thought that perhaps it was time he made a visit to Gin.

* * *

 **After-Action Report:** This is probably one of the most difficult chapters I've had to write. It's really difficult for me to get into Cinder's head, so her dialogue might seem a little forced.

Ruby's reaction to Orville and his situation might seem out of left field, especially with how easily she handled Blake's confession in canon, but I've got a reason, which will likely come to the fore in a chapter or two. Teams ORNP and CRDL will start stepping up their game, and I'll be exploring CRDL's characters more thoroughly as training goes along.

Speaking of which, if anyone would like to help me out in developing their Semblances and general fighting styles beyond what was seen in "Extracurricular" and during their match between Penny and...Cyan? I think that's her name...I'd much appreciate it.

And yes, Gin is based on Han Solo. So...yeah. Episode Seven was fresh in my mind when I was developing Orville's character, so that shouldn't be much of a surprise. Will there be a Chewbacca Expy? Who knows? (Me, I know).

On a completely unrelated note, how fucking AMAZING was RWBY season 3 finale? Though I feel a little gypped as far as Ozpin and Taiyang are concerned. The last episode had me all geared up for a badass confrontation between Oz and Cinder, and then we only get flashes of the fight? Curse you, RT! And then, after three seasons of waiting for Ruby and Yang's dad to show up he gets, like, half a scene's worth of dialogue and character establishment? Fucking shit!

Also, of course, you know, Pyrrha dying and everything. I mean, I saw it coming...I think a lot of people did, to be perfectly honest. She's Achilles, and Achilles is really only famous for how he died. I think a lot of the reason why some people don't like her is because she wasn't given much characterization, at least in comparison to some of the other mains. Plus, she was basically only in the plot to train Jaune.

However, Pyrrha lovers can rejoice, since she's not in the same role in canon that she'll be in for this story. She doesn't have to baby anyone like she had to in RWBY, so she'll have a lot of chances to really spread her wings, so to speak.

Also, I've got an idea that's been bouncing around for a while about a Fusion Fic that combines the world of RWBY with Pokemon, so that might be something that happens soon.

For all those who favorited, followed, reviewed, and just read my trash-writing, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. If I failed to address something that you'd like to talk about, feel free to leave a review or PM me.

Until next time, have a great day!


	7. Electric Sheep

**Author's Note:** And another Thursday has come. I hope your week has been as good as mine was awful. Seriously, my entire household is sick and gross, food is tasteless, and worst of all I'm suffering from mild alcohol withdrawal. So you can imagine how much fun I've been having.

But you're not here to listen to me whine and complain. Oh, and also before I forget, I've got a new story called _Golden Tails_ that acts as a side-story compendium for _The Golden Retriever_. You should check it out after this.

 **Disclaimer** and **Warning** still apply from the first chapter.

* * *

Chapter 7: Electric Sheep

* * *

For a good portion of the week following his first meeting with Cinder, Orville spent his time working out a training timetable that would fit around everyone's schedule as well as could be managed, and their preparations had begun in earnest just two days ago. For Team CRDL, that meant going through a modified version of the exercise regimen Orville had begun with as a kid. Sure, that sounded like he was going easy on the flock of idiots, but Gin had been a vicious taskmaster and had passed down that particular trait straight to Orville.

Ren had been ordered to focus on building up his stamina and Aura reserves in order to cover his most glaring weakness. This had so far entailed Orville clamping stone training weights on his arms, and legs before siccing Nora on him. It was brutal, merciless, and most importantly effective, with the added benefit of letting Nora work off some of the aggression she still felt towards Cardin. It had taken quite a bit of doing on Orville's part to talk her out of shattering the tall boy's kneecaps for the first couple of days (and even then she'd only let it go after he and the rest of Team ORNP agreed to let her choreograph a dance number for them, which would be performed at Nora's whim).

Nora herself was undergoing a sort of shock therapy, though not in the traditional sense. After being pushed far past the point of exhaustion each day, Ren would gain a modicum of vengeance by stabbing Nora constantly with Pyrite darts to raise her tolerance and control over the power she gained from the electric currents the Dust provided, though he used the term 'accupressure techniques' instead of 'stabbing'. The next step once she was fully capable of harnessing that energy would be manifesting the electricity outside of her body instead of using it to overstimulate her muscles.

As Ren and Nora helped one another improve, so too did Orville and Pyrrha strive together as partners to new heights. The Mistrali champion drilled Orville dutifully in unarmed combat techniques and subtle manipulation of his elemental affinity while the Faunus aided Pyrrha in working to control multiple objects with her Semblance. Pyrrha excelled at guiding a foe's movements using the metal on their bodies, but had trouble focusing on more than two or three pieces at once, which was Orville's forte. They were currently in the process of developing a few tricks where Orville would shift the ground beneath an opponent to throw them off balance.

And all the while Team RWBY's leader pointedly avoided Orville while her sister and partner tried unsuccessfully to mend the rift between them. Blake had been completely wrong about Ruby coming around (which didn't exactly surprise Orville), but he tried not to hold it against the cat Faunus. She was doing her best, and that was really more than he deserved to ask for. Still, the sisters' absence was palpable to Orville no matter how hard he strived to ignore it.

Cinder, meanwhile, had begun to direct Orville in drawing up schematics of the Beacon grounds and buildings. Thankfully, he had quite a nifty application on his scroll which utilized three-dimensional laser mapping to form incredibly detailed charts for him. Normally he used it to plot the best courses in the Grimmlands, but whatever worked...

When the next Thursday rolled around, Orville took the free day he and the others had agreed on to visit his old mentor to perhaps gain a different perspective on his situation. In hindsight, Orville realized he probably should have come to Gin much sooner, but doing so had seemed too much like admitting defeat before the Forever Fall fiasco forced his hand.

The Agricultural District of Vale was pretty much what one would expect from the name: miles and miles of land set aside exclusively for farms, orchards, greenhouses, and other horticulturally-inclined structures. The Grimm-proof walls were thickest near this district in order to protect the kingdom's food supply and those who provided it. This also meant that there were fewer guard patrols along the wall, which was why Gin had chosen to purchase several acres that ran right up against the monolithic structure. If not pressed for time, Gin's farm was Orville's main point of entrance into Vale, where it was a simple matter of tunneling right up into the barn house without fear of popping up next to some unsuspecting civilian (or worse, actual border officials).

The farm house itself was a disorderly, asymmetrical sprawl that covered about an eighth of Gin's total holdings. Part log cabin, part duracrete bunker, part experiment in surrealism, it was a joint project Orville and Gin had spent a good chunk of lien for the best contractors to work their magic upon, and though it didn't look entirely appealing, it was about the closest thing to home either had.

Orville hopped off the rocky hoverboard he'd flown over on (staying in the air longer than ten minutes at a time was one of the things he'd been practicing the past week) and readied himself for a sneak attack, which Gin was fond of springing on him with no notice.

Climbing the porch steps and slinking up to the door, Orville felt a bead of sweat drip down the side of his face as he strained his senses for the faintest hint of trouble. His eyes and ears swiveled about while his nose twitched madly, and his paranoia rose when nothing came up.

Gin was up to something, that much Orville was sure of. There was never a time that Orville didn't drop by when Gin attacked him, or laid a clever trap for him to fall into, or some other nefarious attempt on his life. It was Gin's way of showing that he cared enough to worry about whether or not Orville's survival skills were up to snuff, and Orville appreciated it, really he did. Only sometimes, the Old Bastard just got a little... _overenthusiastic_ , like that time with the pool full of tiger sharks and the fish tank of chicken's blood (shuddering, he tried valiantly once more to repress that memory).

With a quick flick of the wrist, Orville opened the door and dove inside, a cloud of dirt held about him ready to solidify into a barricade at the slightest whiff of danger. After a moment frozen in a crouch on the floor, he picked up the faint sound of conversation from upstairs, likely in the sitting room. Once he checked the stairs for trip wires and pressure pads, Orville ascended, somersaulting over the top step just in case he missed something.

There were at least four voices...Orville frowned as he heard familiar laughter, and a feeling of cold dread gripped his guts when he placed it in his mind.

 _Oh,_ shit.

"...so the stupid little brat gets the bright idea to dig the fishing hook out with _another_ fishing hook!" a voice full of gravel chuckles with sadistic glee, accompanied by a loud smack of flesh on leather and more feminine mirth. "As you can imagine, that only made things about ten times worse and he ended up almost tearing his whole thumb off!"

Orville burst into the second room on the left, kicking down the door in his haste, only to be met with a big red boxing glove to the face covered in what smelled like baby powder. Cursing himself for allowing panic to overwhelm him, Orville rubbed his nose and glared at the three people within.

Yang and Ruby were sitting on the massive sofa with steaming cups of hot chocolate set on the coffee table. Yang looked like the cat who had just eaten an aviary's worth of canaries while Ruby's expression was a bit more reserved, if a little giggly.

Meanwhile, sitting in the custom-made, old-fashioned wheelchair (which contained more bells and whistles than the Atlesian Carillon), was an elderly Faunus with two slender, graying coyote ears poking up past his mop of silver hair and a devilish glint in his steel-blue eyes. A cerulean jacket hung over his shoulders and half covered the long-sleeved light gray shirt he wore, and a black-and-blue plaid blanket lay draped over the ruined remains of his legs.

The most puzzling member of the gathering was that old lady who'd bothered the ever-living shit out of him during his last outing into the Grimmlands...May something? She was sat between Ruby and Yang with a cup of tea in her hands and looking thoroughly pleased with herself

As he did whenever he saw Gin for the first time in a while, Orville fought back a grimace. "Having a tea party without me, I see," he said, trying to keep his voice light as he wiped his face free of the white dust.

"Ah, look what the Grimm dragged in," Gin rumbled, shooting him the sharp, wry smirk that had been made legend by the tall tales surrounding the greatest smuggler in all of Remnant's history (or so Gin proclaimed whenever he got rip-roaring drunk off Menagerie moonshine). "I was wonderin' when the prodigal son'd show up. Heard ya got yerself in a bit of a clusterfuck."

"More of a shit-storm cell," Orville replied, turning to the elderly woman. "May, it's great to see you and everything, but what are you doing here?"

"Once the Vale Relocation Board learned that Redd was a farmer, they gave us a parcel of land that just happened to be right down the lane from dear Gin here," she explained cheerfully. "I'd baked some fresh biscuits and decided to visit our new neighbor, and you could just imagine my surprise when I saw a picture of you hanging over his mantle!"

"Ain't that something," he said with a slightly strained grin, glancing toward the two sisters uncertainly. "Hey."

Yang grinned and waved, saying, "Heya, Corndog!" Then she elbowed Ruby none-too-subtly in the ribs, prompting the smaller girl to raise her own hand in greeting. "Who's got two thumbs and has your back?" She made fists and poked herself in the chest with the aforementioned digits. "This gal!"

Orville couldn't help but smile. "That's nice and everything, but what's going on?" he wondered.

"Yer Blondie over there dragged the li'l one all the way out here ta get some perspective on yer worthless hide," Gin cackled. "Apparently ya can tell a lot about a body from the guy who raised 'em."

"You didn't scar Ruby for life, did you?" Orville asked cautiously. He loved Gin (though he'd _never_ tell the man to his face for fear of being ridiculed and mocked), but he wouldn't wish the crazy coyote upon even his worst enemy. It was just... _cruel_.

"Are you kidding? Gin's _awesome_! And May's just the bee's knees!" Ruby exclaimed, earning a crooked grin from the smuggler and a quiet titter from the frontier granny. Yang sent another elbow nudge into Ruby's side, and the redhead's expression became more sheepish. "Which reminds me...can I, um, speak to you in private?"

Bemused, Orville nodded. "Sure, I guess. You mind, Old Bastard?"

"I know when I'm not wanted," Gin growled. "Come along, May, let's leave these youngsters alone." May indulgently stood up and began wheeling Gin out of the room as he continued, "No funny business in here, though. I just had the couch reupholstered."

"You're just bitter that your junk doesn't work anymore," Orville sent a parting shot after him, and was horrified when he heard May mutter about it working just fine. He hurriedly kicked the door shut before turning back to Ruby and Yang. "So..."

"So..." Ruby parroted, then yelped when Yang punched her in the shoulder. "Ow, okay!" She stood up and walked right up to Orville, looking him dead in the eye with the seriousness he'd seen during Initiation. "Orville."

"Ruby?"

She took a deep breath, then started spewing words at a breakneck speed. "I'm so sorry that I acted like a jerk to you this past week, it's just that when I was really little my mom used to tell me stories about how smugglers were the worst kind of people and that they should be hung by their thumbs and tickle-tortured until they went insane and I can't _believe_ I treated you like such a butt but then Yang took me here and we got to meet Gin and May and they told us all about you and now I just feel like the biggest pile of poo in Remnant and..."

Orville clamped a hand over Ruby's mouth to stem the flow of logorrhea before turning to Yang. "Mind if I get the tl;dr version?"

"Ruby's been freakin' miserable since her little episode last Saturday," Yang explained. "It turns out Team STRQ, which as you may or may not know was made up of our dad, both our moms, and our uncle, has gone up against your old man there a few times in the past."

Orville struggled briefly to comprehend just how _that_ team dynamic had worked. "Small world," he noted idly.

"Yeah, I know, right?" Yang laughed at the absurdity. "Anyway, apparently Gin repeatedly made a fool out of STRQ, the only person who'd ever managed to pull the hood over Summer's eyes and keep it there. Summer was amazing, but she had a tendency to...hold a grudge, I guess is the best way to put it. She'd tell us stories about how smugglers were the worst scum of the earth and how even rapists and slavers were higher up on the moral scale. Ruby just took it to heart."

Realizing he still had his hand over her mouth, Orville relinquished his hold on her. "So you thought...wow, alright I've heard of gullible, but geez."

"It took all morning for Gin to convince Ruby that you weren't going to go off and drain a baby's blood to sweeten your morning hot chocolate," Yang snickered at Ruby's petulant face. "May dropped in about an hour ago and told us the story of how you saved what was left of her village, which was what really sold Ruby."

"Look, it was Mom, okay? Why wouldn't I believe her?"

"Well, she did also say that her cookie recipe was developed by the Maker Itself and passed down to our early ancestor," Yang pointed out, only for Ruby to growl at her.

"It _was_!" Ruby argued vehemently. "Those cookies are filled with ambrosia and nectar and delicious, yummy stardust!"

Orville couldn't help himself; he descended into uncontrollable, relieved laughter as he dropped onto the couch. Of all the stupid things...

Eventually, long after his abdominal muscles began to cramp and ache from his bout of merriment, Orville stopped to catch his breath and ruffle Ruby's hair fondly. "Nothing to forgive, Little Red," he said. "Let's go see where May and the Old Bastard went to, shall we?"

Nodding, Ruby led the way out of the door, but Yang held him back. Orville scratched at his cheek uncomfortably as he remembered the last few words they'd exchanged. "Look, Yang. I'm sorry about lying to you. I wasn't exactly raised to value honesty very highly, but that doesn't mean it was right, or even really necessary."

Yang smiled and replied, "Like you said, Orville, nothing to forgive. We're all good."

With a suddenness that threw Orville off-balance, a crushing grip encircled his 'squeaky toys' as Yang pulled him roughly forward so her mouth was a scant inch from his left ear. "But if you ever lie to me again or make Ruby sad, these come off."

Orville could only bob his head frantically, worried that the slightest movement would prompt the terrifying beast to dismember him, so to speak.

And as quickly as it had appeared, the vice around his Goodfellas was gone, along with the stormy expression Yang had worn only a second before. She gave him an innocent grin and a peck on the cheek. "Great! Glad we cleared that up. Let's go see where Ruby went!"

Orville stayed rooted to the spot until he no longer feared that his legs would give out on him before following after her, vowing to never _ever_ break that particular pact.

* * *

"Ya found yerself some good friends, runt."

Orville glanced at Gin as he flipped the skirt steak on the grill. Once Orville had made up with Ruby and Yang, Gin had offered to host a little barbecue for them, and after a few scroll calls on Yang's part, the rest of Teams ORNP and RWBY were lazing about the farm and generally having a great time alongside May's extended family.

A smile came unbidden to his face as he watched Nora stuff a stack of griddle cakes into her mouth while simultaneously holding a conversation with a vaguely green-looking Weiss. Ruby and Pyrrha were chatting on the porch while Gin's old Basset hound, Barf, rested his head in the Mistrali girl's lap while Blake shot dirty looks at the dog from the chestnut tree several yards away. Ren lay just beneath her, snoozing away the afternoon in the shade, giving Yang the perfect opportunity to draw on his face.

"Yeah, they're great," he agreed, lifting the foil to check on Blake's trout. "It's pretty exhausting, but I'd say it's worth it, in the end."

"Enjoy it while it lasts, kid," Gin's voice had gained a melancholic edge, and Orville looked at the old Faunus in surprise. "When yeh're in our line of work, friends don't come along so easy, and they go faster'n yeh'd like."

"What's with you?" Orville asked, mystified. Gin wasn't the type to wear his emotions on his sleeve; to hear him speak so somberly was kind of freaking Orville out.

"Ah, it's nothin'," Gin waved off his concern. "Just hearin' that li'l Summer's kicked the bucket brought up some old memories. She was a real piece o' work, that one. I'd almost consider her somethin' like a favorite niece, 'cept Summer tried ta kill me every time we'd meet up. Then again, I never had any nieces, so I wouldn't exactly know how they'd act..." After sitting for a moment in quiet contemplation, Gin turned back to him. "So what's this I hear about you gettin' tangled up in a world-domination plot? I thought I'd taught you better'n that."

Orville scowled, tossing a few pieces of steak onto a waiting platter, which was already piled high with various meats, baked potatoes, and bits of grilled vegetables. "I fucked up and let Roman drag me into it. Some crazy lady named Cinder's managed to somehow obtain half the powers of a goddess and now I'm stuck helping her infiltrate Beacon Academy. Arc says that it goes a whole lot deeper down the rabbit hole than that, though, and there's someone above even Cinder calling the shots. And to cap it all off, not only am _I_ embroiled in this whole shitty situation, but now my friends are neck-deep in it, too."

"Well, ya stepped in it this time, and no mistake," Gin grunted unsympathetically. "I'll try ta make some inquiries into this Cinder woman, but I ain't makin' any promises. It's been a while since I had to do any legwork."

"HA!" Orville rolled his eyes at Yang, who apparently had some sort of pun-detecting super hearing.

"We still have the Dust under the house, right?" Orville asked, just to be sure.

"Damn near all of it," Gin confirmed. "Sold a little bit o' the Sunstone ta pay for some extra do-dads on the Eagle 5, but other 'n that it's all there." He patted his chair's armrest solidly.

For a while, the only sounds between them were the sizzling of meat and the occasional cry of utter enjoyment as Nora juggled a set of triplets while their parents looked on in trepidation. "I'm scared, Gin," Orville said softly.

"Yeh'd have to be a fuckin' moron if ya weren't," Gin answered bluntly, "and I didn't raise no fuckin' moron." A liver-spotted hand gripped Orville's arm, radiating comfort and strength. "I ain't gonna tell ya it'll be all right, that you and yer friends'll live happily ever after. I ain't gonna tell ya it'll work itself out, either. Yer gonna have to fight every step o' the way on this one, uphill and with the wind blowin' shit in yer face. But I got a feelin' y'all can pull this off. Remember what I told ya: soon or late, the man who wins is the one who thinks he can."

The utter certainty in Gin's steely eyes drew a wry smile from Orville. "You sure have a way with words, old-timer."

"Gotta keep you young pups from killin' yerselves every time a puddle shows up on yer path," Gin snorted, snatching the tongs from Orville's grasp and removing the trout from the grill. "ORDER UP!" he bellowed to the assorted barbecuers.

* * *

With the rift between their two leaders mended and a day of simple relaxation under their belts, Teams RWBY and ORNP decided to head into Vale the next day after classes, going off some information Weiss had overheard about several Vacuan students arriving at the docks. Her justification was to welcome them with the world-renowned Beacon hospitality (her words), but Orville knew she just wanted to spy on the competition (and agreed wholeheartedly with her approach).

Vale itself had been a hive of activity as the council and citizens did their best to make their fair city-state as appealing and attractive as possible. Tourism had been on the decline of late (what with Vacuo and Mistral having the better beaches while Atlas took the cake for mountain vistas), so Vale needed to set itself apart in order to start raking in the revenue. The streets were cleaner than many could remember them being in living memory, with festive streamers and bright banners proclaiming their guests most welcome.

The only problem Orville could see was the police-taped crime scene not a block from the docks where many of the new arrivals were just getting off their ships. Ruby noticed it, too, and tried to usher them over to see what the problem was, but Orville shook his head.

"We already know who it was, Little Red," he muttered quietly as they watched a pair of detectives as they tried their best to detect things and...stuff. "Roman and the White Fang have been scouring the whole city, and they're starting to come up empty with the bigger places."

"So they're even targeting the smaller businesses?" Ruby frowned as she gazed at the little store, wedged as it was between a cafe and a scroll repair shop.

"I'd expect nothing less from such degenerates as Torchwick and the White Fang," sniffed Weiss, nose scrunched up in distaste.

Blake's bow flickered in irritation as she snapped, "What is your problem?"

For a moment, Weiss looked taken aback at her normally stoic teammate before scoffing. "My problem?" she repeated incredulously. "I simply don't care for the criminally insane."

Scowling, Blake retorted, "The White Fang is hardly a group of psychopaths. They're just a collection of misguided Faunus."

Weiss seemed to struggle to comprehend why Blake was so touchy about the subject, her face going through several emotions, before settling on its practically default expression of distaste. "Misguided? You were the one who relayed Orville and Professor Arc's words to us, how they're working for a woman who wants to bring about the end of human civilization!"

"They also mentioned that the woman had pressured at least one of her associates into doing her dirty work by force," Blake shot back angrily. "It shouldn't be too far of a stretch to imagine that she'd done the same thing to the White Fang!"

"Blake has a point," Ren interjected evenly, subtly stepping between the two girls. "Torchwick, and by extension Orville, were intimidated into becoming Cinder's flunkies. It's possible the White Fang were as well."

"That doesn't change the fact that the White Fang have been a violent terrorist organization since long before she ever showed up!" Weiss replied with more heat in her voice than Orville had yet heard from her, even after that whole incident involving her unmentionables. "Those Faunus only know how to lie, cheat, and steal!"

"I don't think that's completely true..." Yang began.

"Yeah, they can do a pretty good maiming, too," Orville added sarcastically. "Look, we all know what they're capable of, and arguing about it isn't going to get us anywhere. Can we just do what we came here to do and chase after that guy?"

"What guy?" Pyrrha asked, confused.

"Hey, stop that Faunus!" hollered a voice from the docks. Up on the deck of the large cruise ship berthed near the stone quay, several sailors were trying to catch a blonde-haired young man with a golden monkey's tail curled up behind him. He wore a pair of rolled-up blue jeans and a white shirt left unbuttoned to show off quite the set of abs, and from the looks of it he was having a blast.

"Thanks for the ride, fellas!" the Faunus called over his shoulder, laughing as he leapt from the side of the ship to the pier below. He rolled to mitigate the downward momentum and hopped up to a light post, hanging from his dexterous tail as he unpeeled a banana.

"Get back here, you no-good stowaway!" snarled one of his pursuers.

"No-good...?" the Faunus actually looked a little insulted. "I'm a _great_ stowaway! You didn't even know I was on board 'til just now."

The two teams watched as the detectives from the robbery arrived at the scene, tossing an easily-dodged rock at the guy.

"Alright, get down from there," the bearded one said, only to be met with mischievous cackling and a banana peel to the face.

Orville whistled sharply to catch their attention, pulling a few stones from the quay and setting them up like platforms before quickly scrawling a few words onto a piece of paper. Grinning in acknowledgement, Monkey-Boy jumped off the lamp and skipped across the provided stepping stones, waving jauntily to the detectives as he ran.

"Thanks for the save, buddy!" called the Faunus as he passed, raising a hand. Orville lifted his own and slapped him five as he went by, slipping him the note in the process.

"Good luck," Orville replied simply. The blonde boy winked at Blake in passing before turning the corner, being pursued by the detectives.

"Well, Weiss," Yang said after a moment. "You said you wanted to check out the competition, and _there_ it goes."

Snapping her finger forward, Weiss commanded. "Quickly, we must observe him!"

"Whee! Follow the leader!" Nora exclaimed as she raced after the trio. The rest of the Beacon students quickly trailed after her (ORP as much to keep their teammate out of trouble as to heed Weiss).

Weiss rounded the building first, and Orville's keen ears picked up the loud, meaty _thud_ and the sound of two bodies (one significantly heavier than the other) hitting the floor. Had Weiss struck a big fat guy?

Frowning, Orville came to a halt behind the others and took in the confusing scene. Weiss was on the ground, staring down the street as she whined, "He got away..."

Beneath her, a girl who seemed roughly their age with short, curly hair the color of a sunset and sea-green eyes lay sprawled beneath the heiress. She wore a green overall dress atop a white blouse, and a black collar with green accents that matched her leggings and boots.

Contrary to what just about any other person ever, the girl seemed pleased to have Weiss on top of her, if the slightly off-kilter smile was anything to go by. Weiss only realized her predicament when Yang pointed it out, and yelped as she leapt to her feet and away from the grinning girl.

"Salutations!" the mystery ginger said, still on the ground. Orville felt the need to go offer her a hand up, which she took gratefully. He grunted in surprise at how heavy she was. "Thank you very much."

"No worries," Orville replied. "You alright?"

"I'm wonderful, thank you for asking!" she assured in an unnaturally cheerful tone for someone who'd just been knocked on her ass. "My name is Penny. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Nice to meetcha," acknowledged Orville. "I'm Orville, and these are my underlings." He was struck by everyone but Pyrrha. "Gah, you guys just _can't_ take a joke, can you? I was just kidding, by the way. This is Ruby, Weiss, Nora, Ren, Pyrrha, Yang, and Blake," he introduced his friends, pointing them out as he named them. "We're students at Beacon."

Penny nodded along as she integrated the information before saying, "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"You already said that," Weiss pointed out, eyes narrowing in suspiciously.

Blinking, Penny smiled vaguely. "So I did," she agreed.

"Well, sorry for running into you," apologized Weiss, already turning back in the direction they'd come.

"I'll catch up with you guys," Orville said, waving to the rest of his group as they left. Pyrrha hesitated, and he added, "Don't worry, I won't get lost." Smiling in spite of herself, Pyrrha nodded and followed after them.

Orville waited until he heard their footsteps fade away before turning back to Penny, cocking his head to the side. "So don't take this the wrong way, Penny, but are you a robot?"

The almost constant smile the girl had presented thus far faltered, and she raised her hands in an unconsciously defensive gesture. "N-no, of course I'm not a robot!" she said with a false cheer that was almost painful to witness, only to cover her mouth to hide a hiccup. "Why would you think that?"

Tapping his nose, Orville smiled in what he hoped was a non-threatening manner. "I've got a really good sense of smell," he explained. "You smell like steel and motor oil, no sweat or musk or any human or Faunus scent besides the usual traces from interacting with others."

"I-I-I don't think-" Penny began, a panicked look slowly growing in her eyes. Orville watched, fascinated for a moment before he cut her off.

"Look, I don't particularly care," he assured her. "I'm just really curious about something. I've met a lot of robots in my life," (true, most were trying to kill or capture him), "and you seem _very_ different from any of them. Are you an AI or something?"

Penny fidgeted, shuffling her feet uncomfortably, and Orville was again struck by how _human_ she seemed. "I'm...my father created me as the very first artificial being capable of generating Aura," she confessed, glancing up at him nervously.

Orville took a moment to process her words, mind reeling. "You...you have a soul?" he asked, thunderstruck. "That...is _amazing_!"

At first, Penny flinched, as though she expected him to yell at her or something until his words registered. "I...what?"

Her face bore confusion and cautious hope, and Orville wondered if perhaps she'd been shunned before simply for existing. It caused the protective instinct that had been steadily growing stronger since he'd arrived at Beacon to rear up angrily.

"You are amazing," Orville reiterated clearly, making sure she understood him perfectly. "Where are you from? Your father must be a _genius_ to have given you life. Do you have tactile senses? Can you feel this?" Orville poked her hand curiously, and Penny's bemused expression became outright bewilderment.

"Aren't you _scared_ , or angry?" Penny inquired. "I'm not even a real girl." The last part was spoken with a certain amount of resignation, as though she'd been constantly reminded of that her whole life.

"Who told you that?" Orville demanded, his anger flaring. "That's bullshit, and I think you know it."

Penny averted her eyes toward the ground. "My father and Uncle Ironwood wanted me to go to Atlas in order to allow me to interact with the students there," she said hesitantly. "But my synthetic skin was torn in Combat Class one day, and after that..."

"After that they treated you like something inhuman," Orville finished, disgusted. "Listen, Penny. I've been treated like that my whole damn life just because I've got dog ears poking out of my head. Does that make me not real? Does that make the emotions I feel and the thoughts I have any less real than theirs?"

"I...suppose not," Penny relented.

"Then that shouldn't make your situation any different," he said firmly. "So, how about you and me be friends, and if anyone treats you like that again I'll bash some sense into their ignorant heads?" He stuck out a hand for her to shake, and the hopeful smile that formed on her face brought an answering grin to his own.

"Truly?" she whispered, and he nodded without hesitation.

"I wouldn't have offered otherwise."

"Sen-sational!" the girl bypassed his outstretched arm entirely and enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug that sent his Aura into overtime to keep his organs from rupturing. As quickly as she'd initiated the embrace she let go, a slight frown marring her features. "But...what about your other friends?"

"They'll be your friends, too," Orville guaranteed. "I know for a fact that Ruby and Nora will love you, and if those two are in then Ren and Yang will be, too. Pyrrha's a sweetheart, she'll definitely accept you as long as you don't treat her like an idol. Weiss might seem a little cold, but she's really not that bad once you get to know her, and Blake won't really care that much either way."

Moisture began to form on Penny's eyelids, and a quick sniff told Orville that it was a similar substance to windshield wiper fluid. "I can't explain how I feel right now," she mumbled, sounding a little surprised. "It's like...it's like a big bubble in my chest."

"Yeah, friendship is a weird feeling," Orville agreed. "It takes a while to get used to, but it's a really great thing." He pulled out his scroll. "Look, I need to get back to the others now, but let me give you my scroll number. Call me whenever you need something, or just wanna talk. Maybe we can all get together tomorrow and hang out."

"I've never 'hung out' with anyone before," Penny admitted nervously as she bumped her scroll into his, transferring the data. "Is there something I should bring?"

"Just yourself," Orville said, smiling. "I'll see you later, Coppercurls."

He wasn't quite out of earshot when he heard Penny squeal jubilantly. "I have a friend!" It very nearly broke his heart.

* * *

Orville had missed the ferry back to Beacon the others had taken, but Pyrrha filled him in on the argument Weiss and Blake had been locked in almost since they'd parted ways. So when his ears picked up the sounds of a shouting match as he headed toward the dorms, he wasn't particularly surprised.

What he _was_ surprised about was Blake yelling something that ended with a ringing silence, followed by the girl herself bolting out the door and down the hall right toward him wild, terrified eyes.

"Sugar Britches, what-?" he started, only to trail off in a startled yelp as she grabbed his arm and pulled him along behind her. He quickly regained his equilibrium and got his feet working again so he was running beside her.

He followed her silently until they were out of the dormitory building and out in the courtyard, standing in front of the statue of Arc's ancestor. Wiping a tear off her cheek, Blake wordlessly reached up and undid her bow, revealing a pair of dark feline ears.

"How bad was it?" Orville asked quietly.

"...really bad," Blake replied sullenly. "Weiss was yelling about how her family had been at war with the White Fang, and how she hated them because we were murderers, and I just...I _snapped_."

"So now they know that you're a Faunus and a former member of the White Fang," he surmised, and she shot him a slightly sheepish look. "So they don't know that you quit the White Fang, then," Orville corrected himself, wincing sympathetically. "Why'd you drag me along?"

Blake's shoulders rose in a shrug. "I don't really know," she confessed. "Maybe it was just the heat of the moment. Maybe it was because you're the only one who knew before all this." She laughed mirthlessly. "Maybe I'm just a coward and didn't want to face this alone."

Orville sighed. _Cats_ , he thought sourly. Outwardly, he jerked his head back toward Vale. The last airship was still docked at the landing zone, waiting for the final batch of students. "I doubt you'll want to face the music just yet," he said with a wry smile. "I've got a place in the city you can use to gather your thoughts and relax a little."

"Mind if I tag along?" came a voice from one of the trees that lined the pathway. Both Orville and Blake turned to the source, hands straying to their respective weapons. "Whoa, easy!" It turned out to be the monkey Faunus from the docks. He was holding out the slip of paper Orville had passed him, the words, _Come to Beacon, we've got banana bread_ , scribbled across it. "I thought I was invited."

Orville glanced toward Blake, who shrugged indifferently. "Looks like you're coming with us," he relented. "I'm Orville, that's Blake."

"Sun," the boy said, waggling his eyebrows at Blake. "I knew you'd look better without the bow."

"Come on, Cassanova, let's get outta here before you start putting the moves on Grumpy Cat."

* * *

 **After-Action Report:** And with that I'll end it. Again, not my best, but my hands are shaking up a storm, and I'm seriously pissed off at how many typos I found in editing. Next chapter should wrap up Season 1, and then there'll be a bit of an interlude arc that takes place during the break.

I'm not quite sure if I'll be able to fit Gin's backstory in anywhere without it being all expositional and weird, so I'll just get it out of the way here. He was born in Vacuo and played a huge part in the Faunus Rights Revolution. He fought and killed many important people on the other side, fucking shit up and being a general badass. After the war, he was disillusioned with the fact that despite all the bloodshed and death the whole world went through, it had changed basically nothing, and dropped into obscurity for a while before gaining infamy as a Dust smuggler. He chose that particular field because he and Weiss' grandpa had clashed several times in the war (he even gave Grandaddy Schnee a nice big scar across his chest as a souvenir), and wanted some semblance of vengeance, however petty.

So yeah. That's Gin's story. And if you think you might have caught some Spaceballs references, don't worry: you're not going crazy. The Eagle 5 (Lone Star's Winnebago space ship) is the name of Gin's wheelchair (and yes, it's a wheel chair and not a 'hover chair'), and Barf (the Chewbacca expy from Spaceballs) is the name of Gin's dog.

As for Penny and Orville's deduction of her little secret, well, I just really liked Penny. She was one of my favorite characters in the series, and her death hit me a hell of a lot harder than Pyrrha's did. That was a brutal way to go, and I'm hoping that somehow things won't turn out as badly as they seem for my favorite gynoid (though the odds are against me in this one, sadly).

Anything I failed to address or questions you might have can be brought up in a review (please review, I'm begging you!). I'll even take hateful comments and flames because it's still something. Thanks to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, and followed, and I hope you all have a better day than mine is shaping up to be!


	8. You are Not Alone

**Author's Note:** Okay, so it's been about a month, hasn't it? Time sure flies, especially during family crises (yes, as in plural). The saying about raining and pouring is very apt when it comes to my life these past few weeks, but I won't bore you with the details. Suffice to say I'm more or less settled once more and I'll be going back to the Thursday updates.

 **Disclaimer** and **Warning** still apply from the first chapter.

* * *

Chapter 8: You Are Not Alone

* * *

Sunday found the trio on the veranda of a cafe a few blocks from Orville's apartment. Orville and Sun were both a bit hung-over due to the drinking game they'd played while binge-watching the fifth season of _Sport of Dominion_ the night before. In hindsight, they probably should have taken out the 'finish your drink every time a character dies' rule for that one.

Blake had declined to join them in drinking, and was currently smirking at them over the rim of her teacup with a smug look. Sun rubbed his temples in a vain attempt at alleviating his headache, his black coffee hanging limply from his tail, while Orville nursed his own special blend of chai, green tea, and hot chocolate and mumbled about those damn Dusk Guard shit-heads.

"All I'm saying is that they're going to get their asses handed to them when The Big Alternate comes knocking on the Partition," he grumbled. "Especially without their boss around."

Blake's eyebrows drew together as she frowned. "So you _actually_ think that they're not going to bring Jym Ice back from the dead in the next season?" She scoffed with more condescension than a whole roomful of Schnees. "They even sent the Crimson Lady back to the Partition, at the expense of Mannis' whole campaign. What else is she going to do there, roast marshmallows with the Dusk Guardsmen?"

"It'd be a terrible cop-out if that's what ends up happening," Orville shrugged, gazing down at his drink. "Just about every other person in the whole series who has died _stayed_ dead. They didn't even bring back Lady Rockaorta, even though she's a pretty important plot point in last book. I doubt Jymmy-boy's gonna get a resurrection." He looked up from his cup and found Blake staring at him in surprise. "What?"

"Nothing," she stammered, taking a hasty sip of her own tea. "I just...wasn't expecting you to have read the books _Sport of Dominion_ was based on. You always give me grief for reading at school."

"That's 'cause you read those stupid, bone-dry textbooks," Orville explained, rolling his eyes in amusement. "I've got no problems with recreational reading. Not much else to do in the Grimmlands with the shoddy video reception out there."

"I hate to break up this little bonding session," Sun said when Blake opened her mouth to reply. "Really, I do. But I'm starting to feel like a third-wheel here, and that ain't gonna happen. Just look at these abs!"

Orville immediately fought back a dry-heave (he'd thankfully puked himself empty earlier that morning) at the thought, and judging by Blake's disgusted expression she felt the same way.

"Look, your abs are great and everything," Orville acknowledged, "but if you insinuate what you were just trying to insinuate again I'll rip 'em out of your body and use 'em as a washboard."

"After _I_ tear your tail off and shove it down your throat," Blake added, matter-of-fact.

Sun covered his gut protectively and curled his tail around his waist. "Alright, I can take a hint," he pouted. "If I didn't know any better, I'd almost think there might be something going on between you two." Blake reached for Gambol Shroud's hilt and Sun cried, "I was _joking_! It was a _joke_! Please don't cut off my tail..."

Nodding in satisfaction, Blake lowered her hand back to the handle of her cup. "Just don't make those kinds of 'jokes' around our teams. _Especially_ Yang."

Orville shuddered at the thought. He had fun trading barbs with the blonde-haired girl, but she didn't need any more ammunition to work with. "God forbid," he muttered in agreement.

Sun sighed in defeat. "So if we can't talk about the obvious sexual tension between you two," he cringed when Orville waved his teaspoon threateningly, "can we at least talk about why we're hanging out in Vale instead of at Beacon in the first place?"

Blake winced, and Orville was mildly surprised that it had taken Sun this long to address the obvious elephant-sized cat in the room. "I suppose it's only fair," she said, wrapping both hands around her cup in an attempt to eke out any warmth left in the ceramic. "So you want to know more about me, huh?"

Sun nodded eagerly, and Orville couldn't really blame him. Sure, the two of them had gotten along like a house on fire (much to their temporary roommate's horror), but Orville knew that the real reason the monkey Faunus was around was Blake. And he understood Sun's interest; Blake was a good-looking girl, and she had that whole mysterious-chick vibe going for her.

"Sun, what do you know about the White Fang?" Blake asked, eyes shuttered.

"Well," Sun said as his tail snaked up to rub his chin thoughtfully. "From what I understand, they're pretty much a bunch of hypocritical terrorists who try to shove their anti-human propaganda down everyone's throats while making everything worse for any non-affiliated Faunus in the process."

"I was once a member of the White Fang," Blake murmured, looking down at her hands, still clenching the cup tightly. Orville had to hold in the chuckle that bubbled up at Sun's flabbergasted expression.

"Wait, _you_ were part of the White Fang?" he blurted out, shocked.

"That's right," Blake nodded despondently. "I was a member for most of my life, actually. You can almost say I was born into it."

"It wasn't always the way it is now," Orville explained to the confused blonde. "The White Fang was supposed to be a symbol of peace between humans and Faunus after the Revolution. It was supposed to signify the end of the horrors of war and discrimination, except nothing had really changed, y'know?"

"So the White Fang rose up as the voice of our people," Blake continued, offering Orville a small smile. "And I was there, at the front of nearly every rally. The only boycott I didn't attend was the one that started the White Fang down the path they now walk."

"Lighthouse," Orville grunted morosely at Sun's curious look, which morphed quickly into one of sorrow as he made a three-pronged claw over his heart.

"Yes, the Massacre at Lighthouse," Blake agreed mournfully. "A few members of the leadership at the time managed to convince the others that the younger Faunus shouldn't attend that one, and I suppose I should be thankful that I was held back that day. From then on, the whispers of discontent and fury became mutters, and then shouts until five years ago when the last of the old leaders stepped down and a new one took his place." Blake's grip on her cup became so forceful that Orville began to hear minute cracks and brushed his knuckles lightly against hers in warning.

She quickly relinquished her grasp and moved her eyes to Vale's skyline with a faraway gaze. "Suddenly, our peaceful protests were distant memories and all that was left were organized attacks. We set fire to shops that wouldn't serve us, hijacked shipments from companies that used Faunus labor." She let out a humorless bark of laughter. "And the worst part? It was working! We were finally being treated as _equals_ , but it wasn't out of respect; it was because the humans were scared of retaliation."

"So you left," Sun surmised, looking troubled.

"So I left," Blake agreed sadly. "I decided I no longer wanted to use my skills to aid in their violence. And instead, I would be dedicating my life to becoming a Huntress. So here I am," she finished, gesturing to herself with a halfhearted smile that seemed sadder to Orville than if she'd burst into tears. "A criminal hiding in plain view, all with the help of a little...black...bow."

"Have you told any of your friends?" asked Sun tentatively.

"They'd never understand," Blake sighed, turning away. "Ruby and Yang would try, but how could they? And Weiss...Weiss has probably already gone to Ozpin now that she knows I was part of the White Fang."

"You really need to give your team more credit," Orville said softly. "Give 'em the chance and I'm sure they'll rise to the occasion."

Blake's head dropped into her hands. "They probably hate me now," she mumbled miserably. "Weiss especially. I knew that the Schnees had taken losses in many of our raids, but I never imagined that they were people she might have known..."

"Didn't the new leader of the White Fang didn't tell you how violent it'd get?" Sun queried dubiously.

Blake hesitated for a moment, and Orville frowned, wondering just how well she knew that bull-headed fuck Adam. "I was aware of what the White Fang was doing," Blake admitted quietly. "I never took part in any of those missions, but I was too afraid to speak out against them after..."

She cut herself off, clenching her hands together. Orville's scowl deepened, imagining all manner of things that she might have said. Banishing those thoughts, he reached over and placed a hand over hers, radiating as much support as he could muster. Usually, it was Gin doing this for him whenever he fell into a rut, so he was somewhat new to being encouraging; he figured it was the thought that counted in the end, anyway.

"Listen, Blake," he said gently, and her head snapped up, eyes wide as she stared at him in confusion. It took him a moment to realize it was because he'd actually used her given name for the first time since they'd met. "I can understand that you've got some issues to work through concerning the White Fang and all that you've done in its name. Hell, I've done some pretty terrible things myself, and I don't even have the moral high ground like you do to justify them. But you've got a team that cares about you now. Those girls will support you through thick and thin. And I suppose now you've got Sun here, too."

"Damn straight," the monkey Faunus piped up, flashing her a reassuring smile.

"You're not alone," Orville continued. "Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Sun, even me and the rest of ORNP have your back. Face it, Sourpuss, you're stuck with us now." Suddenly, he gasped. "Oh, my God! I just accidentally came up with the greatest nickname for you!"

Blake's face, which had begun to break out into a tiny, tremulous smile, instead morphed into an unimpressed glare. "And just like that I hate you again."

"But Sourpuss is _perfect_ for you!" Orville whined. "It's even better than Sugar Britches, and that one's pretty good, too."

"You're only digging yourself deeper," Blake warned him, even as the corner of her lips twitched suspiciously.

"So now that you're feeling less terrible about running away from your problems like the cowardly cat you are," Orville said, smirking as he withdrew his scroll, "can I call your team so you can explain things to them properly?"

Blake nodded as she let go of a long-suffering sigh. "I suppose it's only right," she agreed.

"~Oh RWBY~!" Orville sang, putting his scroll away and cupping his hands around his mouth.

Blake's eye twitched when the other three members of her team came through the door and onto the veranda. Ruby, at least, had the grace to look sheepish at eavesdropping on them. Yang had no such reservations, however, and seemed entirely unabashed at her actions. Weiss, on the other hand, bore a face devoid of any emotion whatsoever as she stared down her dark-themed teammate.

"How long have you been there?" Blake asked, her face a rictus of trepidation.

"Since you and the mutt started flirting," Weiss deadpanned. Orville winced; he hadn't expected them to arrive so quickly when he'd called them earlier. "But that isn't what's important."

"Weiss, I want you to know-" Blake began, only for the pale girl to cut her off.

"Stop," she held up a hand. "We have been worried sick about you all weekend."

"I thought Orville let you know where I was?" Blake interjected, frowning in bemusement.

Weiss rolled her eyes and gestured vaguely toward Orville and Sun. "Yes, because having you in the same apartment as a felon and a stowaway is _definitely_ going to assuage our concerns," Weiss drawled sarcastically.

"Hey, _alleged_ felon," Orville pointed out, only to shrink in on himself when Weiss glared at him. "Shutting up."

"I've had all weekend to think about this," Weiss said after making sure she wouldn't be interrupted again. "And I've come to realize that I don't care."

Blake blinked several times, cocking her head in confusion. "You...don't care?" she repeated, baffled.

"No," Weiss affirmed. "I don't. We heard your story, and you said that you were no longer part of that... _organization_. That is all that matters to me. All I want from you now is the assurance that next time something this important comes up, you'll come to your teammates and not some..." she spared Orville a withering glance. "...someone _else_."

" _Thanks Orville,_ " Orville simpered in a terrible falsetto imitation of Weiss' voice. " _We probably would have spent the whole weekend looking all over the city for our lost teammate without you_."

"Don't push your luck," Weiss snapped at him. "You're the one who facilitated Blake's disappearing act in the first place."

"No," Blake denied, glancing at Orville thoughtfully. "I would have left whether I met up with Orville or not. At least with him I had a place to stay and some decent company."

"I knew you didn't totally hate me," Orville beamed.

"I meant your books," Blake deadpanned.

"So you just take any girl back to your apartment, then, Corndog?" Yang accused, placing her fists on her hips. "I thought me and Ruby were _special_."

"Hey, I took Sun there, too," Orville tried to defend himself, only to realize his mistake a second later when Yang's face split into a massive grin.

"Kinky," she hummed, waggling her eyebrows. "If I'd known you were getting up to _that_ kind of fun I woulda come down yesterday to join in."

"As entertaining as it would've been," Orville chuckled, glancing at a red-faced Blake, "I'm pretty sure that would've created more problems than it would've solved."

"Why don't we move away from that train of thought forever and focus on something else?" Ruby suggested with a barely-visible shudder.

"Like how amazing Weiss' hair looks today," offered a voice behind Orville. He blinked and spun around to find Penny smiling at him. "Hello, Orville!"

"Hey, Coppercurls, what are you doing here?"

"I saw your friends and decided to follow along," the gynoid explained, pointing toward Ruby, Weiss, and Yang. "It must be serendipity that they led me to you!"

"Yeah," Orville chuckled at the indignant look Weiss was giving Penny, who seemed to not notice. "Serendipity. Anyway, this is Sun," he gestured to the monkey Faunus. "He's from Vacuo, but he goes to Haven in Mistral. He's here for the tournament, too. Sun, this is Penny; she's from Atlas."

Sun offered Penny a winning smile and stuck out a hand. "Nice to meet you Penny," he said as cheerfully as a hung-over person could.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well," Penny replied, shaking his proffered hand with much more enthusiasm than he'd probably expected.

"So, now that's out of the way," Orville said, "how about we figure out what we're gonna do about the White Fang?"

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked, frowning. "We've already told Blake that her past with them doesn't matter."

"That's great and everything," Orville agreed. "But they're still out there, likely working with Pumpkin Spice to filch all the Dust in the city. Every speck they take means more bad news for us when Cinder finally makes her move."

"And what do you propose we do, then?" Weiss sniped. "Should we simply take up arms against the White Fang and dish out vigilante justice?"

"Well, yeah, that's pretty much what I had in mind," he admitted, shrugging.

Weiss threw her hands skyward, as if asking the heavens for the patience to deal with him. Frankly, Orville was amused; heaven wouldn't have _nearly_ enough of that to go around where he was concerned. "This isn't a game, Orville," she snapped after regaining her composure. "If we begin to interfere with their plans then we may as well paint a massive target on our backs!"

"Do you think I've _ever_ treated this situation as a game?" Orville returned, all amiability gone from his face. "The whole of Vale, and probably the rest of Remnant, is her target. If we do this now, then we might be able to at least minimize any sort of damage Cinder and her boss might be able to sow. Isn't this what Hunters do? Stop the bad guys and 'dish out vigilante justice'?"

Pursing her lips, Weiss didn't respond, her eyes uncertain. Ruby, however, wasn't so silent. "Orville's right," she piped up as that note of steady steel he'd heard during Initiation returned to her voice. "We're training to be the defenders of all the Kingdoms, what difference does it make if it isn't an assigned mission?"

"I agree," Yang added, her expression unsettlingly serious. "Those bastards think they can just run roughshod over Vale and its citizens because no one's been around or had the strength to stop them. I for one am sick of seeing all these crimes popping up in my news feed."

Weiss sighed, looking two seconds away from rubbing her face in defeat. "Well, I already know how Blake will vote," she muttered. "And I can't very well let my team run off half-cocked against these criminals."

Blake stood up and grasped Weiss' shoulder, squeezing gently. " _Thank you_ ," she said fervently, as though trying to convey just how grateful she was without actually hugging the whit-clad girl.

"As I said," Weiss replied, placing her hand over Blake's as she smiled softly. "We're your team. We'd be kind of terrible at it if we just left you high and dry, wouldn't we?"

Ruby, who had been practically vibrating with happiness at seeing her team back together, finally allowed her excitement to overwhelm her self-control and jumped forward, wrapping her arms around both girls' necks. "Team hug!" she crowed, and Yang gleefully joined in, picking up all three of her teammates and lifting them in a huge embrace.

"Ah, I just love it when a plan comes together like that," Orville said to Sun and Penny. "Any chance you guys wanna get in on this action?"

"I wouldn't be averse to joining you on your crusade against the Dust thieves," Penny offered. "I would appreciate a bit more background information, though."

Blinking, Orville realized that neither Sun nor Penny were privy to the situation's context and smacked himself in the forehead. "Okay, while RWBY catches up and interrogates Blake, I guess I could fill you in..."

* * *

A few hours later, Orville found himself wondering how the hell he managed to get suckered into situations like these. Perhaps he was just weak-willed?

After learning about the general state of affairs, Penny and Sun had been all in for reasons Orville probably would never understand. Those two had met him and the others only three days ago and jumped at the chance to assist them with only a few reservations on the Faunus' part. Sun had even been the one to offer up some information he'd heard on the ship about a massive Schnee Dust Company shipment arriving that day, which had given Blake the idea to set up an ambush for Roman and the White Fang.

The rest of her team had predictably found the prospect of catching them in the act quite appealing, especially Weiss, who had a personal investment in the shipment's safety. Penny had simply deemed herself 'combat ready' and that was that. Once they'd hashed out the details and scouted the area, all they really needed to do was wait. And wait.

And wait.

Orville sighed as he rested his forehead on his crossed arms, and he heard Yang shift beside him. They were sitting in narrow gap between warehouses just near the docks. Ruby and Penny were up on the roof several depots away from them where they would act as long-range support while Weiss, Blake, and Sun were off booby-trapping some of the shipping containers. Yang's role was to simply beat the ever-living shit out of whichever White Fang mook was unfortunate enough to get in her way once the fun started, and Orville...well, his part in this master plan oh-so-carefully thought up by Ruby was to either get Roman to secretly become a second double-agent for them or lure the thief into lowering his guard (and Orville kind of wondered if she was still nursing a bit of a grudge against him regardless of what she said).

"What's up your ass now?" Yang asked, prodding him in the ear with a saliva-soaked finger. Recoiling, Orville glared at her as he tried to wipe away the spit.

"Nothing," he said shortly, but she raised an unconvinced eyebrow as she stuck her finger back into her mouth. Really, only Yang could make such an innocuous action seem threatening.

"'Ou thure a'out tha'?"

"I'm never gonna have a private thought to myself again, am I?" he lamented almost to himself. Yang shook her head anyway, and he sighed again. "Fine. I'm kind of nervous about talking to Roman again."

"I thought he was supposed to be, like, your friend?" Yang wondered, wiping her finger off on his jacket shamelessly. "Or whatever the closest approximation is with liars and criminals?"

He knew she was just joking, but the accusation still stung a little. "We haven't talked without Cinder breathing down our necks in months, since the day before we all got to Beacon." True, it was really nothing new, what with Orville trekking through the wilderness for about that long whenever he went on runs, but with both of them embroiled in this plot or conspiracy or whatever it was...

"Well, he _was_ the one who shoved you into this role in the first place," she shrugged. "You said you'd just got back from the Grimmlands when he got you drunk and took advantage of you-"

"Don't say it like that."

"-so maybe he'd already completely thrown his lot in with Cinder by that point," Yang finished as though she hadn't heard his interjection. "I mean, people change. It's not that far out of the realm of possibility that he would use your friendship as a means to an end."

Orville grimaced; that _did_ sound a lot like something Roman would do. The man was a consummate survivor, and had shown that trait time and again by becoming one of the most successful and notorious criminals in all of Vytal, a feat that couldn't be accomplished by sheer luck alone. But at the same time, Orville had heard the remorse in Roman's voice at duping him into the grand scheme. Roman had even outright admitted that Orville was as close to a friend as the master thief was like to get, and he liked to think that wasn't just some line to get him to cooperate.

"Look, Roman's not the nicest guy out there," he said at last, ignoring Yang's humorless snort. "But he and I, we're thick as thieves. He only brought me in on this because he was worried about me. His priorities may be a little skewed, but from his perspective the safest place to be is out of Cinder's line of fire and he managed to get me there for now."

Yang scoffed to let him know exactly what she thought about that. "He took away your freedom to give you security, is all I'm hearing," she said bluntly, and he had to concede the point. For the first month or so Orville had felt little more than resentment toward Roman for doing exactly that. "If he was really your friend, he'd _know_ that you value your independence above just about everything else."

Pursing his lips, Orville could see where Yang was coming from. It wasn't like he kept his scorn for anything that restricted him a secret. But there was one thing Yang hadn't taken into account.

"You're right that I take that seriously," he told her. "But there's one thing that I'd allow myself to be shackled forever for, and Roman knows it."

"What's that?" Yang asked, frowning.

"The people I care about," Orville shrugged, looking away from her intense gaze. "Before, that was only Gin and Roman. But now...I think maybe the reason why I never got close to anyone before was because subconsciously I knew that if I ever did, I'd open myself up to a higher possibility that someone would take advantage of that. And lo and behold, here we are, even if it _was_ Roman in the end."

"You know that if you ever did that for any of us we'd just come around and bust you out, right?" Yang's tone was light, but her expression was more solemn than he'd ever seen it. "We care a lot about you, too, even if you're a damn dirty smuggler. Me and Ruby have your back, and I know that after this whole weekend so does Blake. Weiss...may take some doing, but she'd follow our lead if it came right down to it." Then she grinned and added, "And don't even get me _started_ on that team of yours."

Orville cracked a wry grin. This was the reason why he endured all the worry, despite all his trepidation and grumbling about how much work it was. His friends kept him steady just as he did for them, and he wondered what it would have been like to have had them throughout his life instead of just for a few months.

The sound of several Bullhead engines made him rise to his feet. "What is it?" Yang inquired, standing up as well.

"They're here," he answered shortly. "Scoot back a little further so the buildings block you. Most of these goons'll be able to spot your hair like it's a lighthouse."

"Good luck," she whispered, pressing a fist to his shoulder before slipping away.

"I was born lucky, Sunshine," he muttered back. Granted, most of that was bad luck, but still...

As three Bullheads thundered across the sea and touched down onto the docks, Orville steeled himself before striding calmly toward the one Roman had just hopped out of.

"Alright, you animals, hurry your tails up!" he shouted to the battalion of White Fang troops who had disembarked alongside him. "We're not exactly inconspicuous he-what the fuck?"

Orville grinned and waved nonchalantly as Roman caught sight of him. "Howdy, Pumpkin Spice! Fancy meeting you here." A few of the grunts aimed their rifles at him, but Roman made a shooing motion with Melodic Cudgel. The White Fang quickly hurried away to give them their space

"Spot, what the hell are you doing here?" Roman hissed as he stalked up to him. "This is supposed to be a covert operation."

Raising his eyebrow at the spotlights and loud engines, Orville said, "Looks like you're doing a bang-up job on that front. You think I couldn't figure out where you'd hit next with all the Dust shops in Vale dried up? Gimme a little more credit, man."

Roman rolled his eyes, but shrugged nonetheless. "Alright, so what'd you want? I take it this ain't a simple visit to see how I'm doing?"

"Well I woulda called you, but I didn't want to interrupt you sucking Cinder's dick," Orville shot back. "First off, I wanted to give you a warning that I couldn't the last few times we talked." He dropped his jovial smile and replaced it with a hard look of determination. "I'm taking that bitch down. I don't care what her intentions are, she's got me on a leash, and I am _nobody's_ pet."

"You're playing a dangerous game here," Roman said cautiously. "I gave you an out, and you managed to get her to like you. You're set, Spot, there's no need to do anything rash..."

"Maybe if circumstances were different," Orville admitted, running a hand through his hair. "But you know me, and I know you. That's the only reason I'm telling you this. You've got a hell of a knack for worming your way onto the winning team, and I respect that. It's one of the very few things I admire about you."

"So you're telling me that you and...what, your team at Beacon are gonna beat Cinder and her fucking _god_ of a boss?" Roman ground out around his cigar.

"My team's got nothing to do with it, and if I have my way, they never will," Orville corrected. "I'm flying solo for now, but that'll change soon. Tonight if you know what's good for you. You _did_ give me an out, but you also gave me an in to whatever she's got cooking, and I'm going to take full advantage of that."

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into," Roman tried again, and Orville could _taste_ his frustration.

"I know _precisely_ what I'm getting into," he countered with a vicious smile. "It's that fucking bitch who's got no clue what sort of monster she roused when she allowed me what little access to her plans she did. I don't care if her end game is to make the world sunshine and daisies, nobody makes me do something I don't want to without repercussions, and the fact that she's forced you into it only made it worse."

Roman's jaw muscle jumped as he chewed on the end of his cigar in silent contemplation. "You are one terrifying kid, do you know that?" he said at last. "I don't think I've ever told you that before, but you kinda scare me sometimes."

Orville shrugged. "I'm only scary to the people who fuck with me."

Roman heaved a sigh of his own as he adjusted his bowler hat. "I don't know what you want from me," he said. "Cinder's got eyes everywhere, and I told you before that she keeps everything compartmentalized. I won't be able to pass you very much intel beyond what I know."

"Yeah, but what you know is where she keeps all the shit you got for her, right?" At Roman's nod, Orville rubbed his hands together. "Then that's really all I need."

"So, what was the other thing?" Roman asked.

"Oh, that's right!" Orville clapped his fist into his open palm; it was the signal they'd agreed upon. "You remember that little girl who gave you a black eye a while back?" Roman grimaced in recollection. "Yeah, so her team's got both an ex-White Fang member and the Schnee heiress on it."

"And?"

"And I'm pretty sure they're coming to stop you," Orville finished, counting down in his mind. "Their team's dorm is right across form mine, and I overheard a few things with my superb olfactory senses. So we should really get going before they arrive and recognize me. Don't want my cover blown or-"

A sudden explosion from one of the shipping containers cut him off, followed by the screams of airborne Faunus. _Right on time_ , Orville thought to himself. " _Shit_ ," he growled aloud, pulling Roman behind another conveniently close box. "Do you think they saw me?"

Roman winced as another set of blasts rumbled across the docks. Without warning, a yellow comet streaked past them and knocked one mook into a group of others before shouting, "Strike!"

"Not yet," the thief replied. "But you've gotta keep your cover if we wanna keep Cinder off our backs." He thought for a moment before smirking and twirling Melodic Cudgel around his wrist. "How long's it been since we had a spar?"

Orville snickered as he unsheathed the Dynamic Duo. "Too long, old pal. Too long. Hit me with a shot so it looks like we were fighting over there and I'll do the rest." He crossed the blades over his chest and braced himself.

"My birthday isn't for another month, Spot," Roman fluttered his eyelashes, flipping the sight up and aiming for the point where the swords met, then fired.

Despite having prepared for it, the shot still hurt like hell, and Orville barely managed to keep his bearings enough to roll safely off into the midst of the fighting. By that point Sun, Blake, and Weiss had entered the fray as well, and when he landed, blades smoking on one of the mooks, they all hesitated for just a moment.

"Orville? Is that you?" Yang did an exaggerated double-take, and Orville fought to roll his eyes. Yang was many things, but a good actress was _not_ one.

"Looks like we've got some company, little puppy," Roman drawled as he sauntered toward them. "Why don't you introduce us?"

"Bite me," Orville snapped, pointing Selenite behind him and using a concussive shell to blast him forward while taking out one of the goons who'd tried to use the distraction to ambush Weiss.

He flew high into the air, using Obsidian's recoil to dodge another shot from Melodic Cudgel while he was still mid-flight and led with a double overhead slash, forcing Roman to abandon his shooting stance in order to block. But instead of holding his ground, the thief allowed himself to fall back, planting a foot in Orville's gut as he rolled backward.

Not expecting the lack of resistance, Orville was flung away, but used the moment that Roman needed to recover to fire several Fire Opal darts toward him. The resulting explosions herded Roman to the left, and Orville rushed in as soon as his feet hit the ground, this time starting with a horizontal slash with Selenite that Roman leaned under. Lashing out with a chop kick to Roman's knee, Orville followed up with a downward thrust of Obsidian. Already off-balance, the dapper criminal was forced to dive away from the stab, firing another explosive round to cover himself.

But Orville grinned and twitched just a bit to the right to avoid it while letting Roman have both of Obsidian's barrels square in the seat of his pants.

"Ah, you rotten little mongrel!" Roman screamed, real outrage on his face. "These were fucking expensive!"

"Lucky for you you're a thief, then," Orville grinned back unrepentantly.

Before they could continue their fight, the Bullheads began to take off, only for Penny to hook what looked like a series of swords into one and yank it back to the ground. Even Orville was impressed by that feat of strength, despite knowing she was a gynoid.

With the sound of churning wind beating down around them, Orville leaned close to Roman and said, "Get going, I'll cover you." Then he flung his old friend closer to the furthest Bullhead.

Roman just managed to land on his feet, and hopped up onto the steadily rising airship just before it got too high. As Penny's swords began to circle before her and generate a sphere of energy, the remaining two ships high-tailed it. The closer one was struck by the lance of whatever type of Dust beam Penny was generating across one of the wings and crashed back down to the ground, but Roman's Bullhead zoomed away off into darkness.

Orville took a look around at the aftermath. Three of the shipping containers had been thoroughly demolished by the traps Blake and the others had laid, but the rest were more or less intact. The two Bullheads Penny had single-handedly taken down were burning nicely while Ruby and Sun dragged the occupants out several at a time.

"How's everyone?" he asked as he jogged up to Yang.

"Nobody on our side was hurt at all," she replied. "Some of those White Fang guys weren't so lucky, but Weiss had already called for paramedics before we set off the bombs so it should work itself out."

"I'll make sure it does," Orville grunted, pulling a good chunk of his Alexandrite from its pouch and splitting it up into about three dozen bandage-shaped strips. He handed a few to Yang before floating the rest over to his other friends. "Slap one of those on the big wounds and they should start to heal. Don't bother with the non-lethal injuries."

Orville wouldn't really lose any sleep over whatever collateral fatalities might have been caused; he'd seen and dealt out too much death in his time to be bothered all that much over White Fang mooks caught in the crossfire. But this had been Ruby's plan, not his, and he knew the little badass well enough to know that she would overburden herself with the lives lost whether it was warranted or not. Plus, he didn't know exactly how Penny might react to killing, however unintentionally. Sure, his Alexandrite was the rarest and most difficult to obtain of the seven Dust variants he used most often, but if it let his friends sleep soundly (or whatever Penny did to recharge) through the night then he'd consider it more than worth it.

Thankfully, there had only been a few cases where the healing Dust was truly necessary. The worst of them was one of the pilots had been impaled by the control shaft upon impact, and it had taken several strips of Alexandrite to keep him alive until the medics arrived to take over, and even he was expected to make a (mostly) complete recovery.

By the time Ozpin and Goodwitch came around, the Beacon students (plus Penny and Sun) were sitting upon a few of the spilled crates of Dust as they watched the fire department hose off the remains of the Bullheads.

"It seems you've had quite an exciting night," the headmaster observed as he glanced around at their handiwork. "Would you care to explain?"

Ruby, Blake, and Sun all began talking at once, but their jaws clicked shut loudly with a wave of Glynda's riding crop (and seriously, who used a _riding crop_ as a focus for their Semblance?). "One at a time, please," she stated calmly, though her eyes were chips of frozen mint, promising a world of hurt to anyone who didn't comply.

"Maybe it'd be best if you and I had a talk," Orville spoke up before any of the others could. " _Sir_ ," he managed to add, though he almost felt a little bit of himself die upon uttering that simple word.

Ozpin took a contemplative sip of his ever-present mug of whatever before nodding. "I do believe a less... _chaotic_ environment might be more conducive to such a chat," he agreed. "Come along, students. Miss Polendina, I do believe your father will be arriving shortly; you've had him quite worried. And Mr. Wukong, though I believe your arrival may be a bit early for the Vytal Festival, Beacon is more than prepared to accommodate you until the rest of your team arrives."

With that said, the eccentric old man turned on his heel and started walking back to the Bullhead he'd arrived on with Goodwitch a step behind him. Reluctantly, Team RWBY said their goodbyes to Penny and began to follow their teachers, Sun in tow.

Before he left, Orville grinned at his synthetic pal. "Coppercurls, I'm afraid to say you're no longer amazing." Before she her answering smile could even so much as dim, he continued. "Because you've been upgraded to total _badass_. Seriously, great work tonight. You and I are gonna have to spar sometime to see just how badly I'd get my ass kicked."

"But I don't want to apply my foot to your posterior," Penny replied in confusion. "We're friends, aren't we?"

"Of course we are," he assured her. "But we're Hunters as well. Hunter friends make sure the others don't get too soft or Grimm would get us, and I don't think either of us wants that."

"No," Penny agreed seriously. "I shall endeavor to do my best when we spar next time we meet, Orville. I hope you aren't in too much trouble for this."

"Whatever mess I'm in will be worth it after tonight," Orville said, patting her on the shoulder before trotting along after the rest of his friends. "See ya later!"

* * *

"So, what you are telling me is that you have more or less infiltrated Cinder Fall's operation within Vale and are currently working to undermine her plans by removing whatever supplies she's accrued thus far. Have I got most of the important bullet points?"

Ozpin and Orville sat across from one another in the massive clockwork office at the top of Beacon Tower. Despite the man's placid demeanor and how well he was taking this news, Orville couldn't help but feel an inch tall under Ozpin's gaze. It was like he was eight again as he heard his parents' eulogy read dispassionately by someone who hadn't even known them.

"That about sums it up," Orville nodded, trying not to show his discomfort. This was almost as bad as that meeting with Cinder, except he was fairly sure Ozpin wouldn't immolate him at the slightest provocation. "You should write those synopses on the back of books; you'd make a killing."

The headmaster's lips quirked up slightly at his attempt at levity. "I always did enjoy being creative," he acknowledged. "Perhaps something to think about another day. For now, though, I would like to know precisely _why_ you've chosen this avenue of action, Mr. Doyle."

Frowning, Orville took a moment to compose an answer that would satisfy both of them. "At first, all I wanted was to get back at the bitch who had brought my only friend to heel and forced him into doing the same to me," he admitted. "My smuggling was more a means to get away from everything than anything else, y'know?"

Ozpin dipped his chin. "I can certainly see the appeal," he said. "In my younger days I, too, was a traveler. I have been to every corner of Remnant, if you can believe it." Oh, he could believe it alright. Ozpin's sheer presence wouldn't have allowed Orville to doubt that he'd trekked the planet and come out alive even if he wanted to.

"But...then I met Ruby and Yang, and my team," Orville continued. "I realized how _lonely_ I'd been out there. It was like.." he struggled to find the right analogy, "...it was like one day I took a deep lungful of air and suddenly realized I hadn't been breathing. And now all I can think about is making sure they're ready for what's coming."

"Which is why Teams ORNP, RWBY, and CRDL have logged more collective hours in the Training Wing than the other first-year teams combined," Ozpin concluded. "And beyond that Professors Port and Arc have reported seeing some of you near the Emerald Forest training as well after our facilities here have closed."

"And now we've finally got a way to strike back at her," Orville said firmly as he leaned forward. "Roman should at the very least be able to send coordinates to the supply depots Cinder's using to hide her weapons and Dust. Once I've got that I can trash the places and recover whatever's left. It'll cripple her operations, maybe even force her to reevaluate the entire plan."

"Do you believe Roman Torchwick to be the most reliable source of intelligence when he was the one to shanghai you into becoming a part of Cinder's schemes in the first place?" Ozpin inquired. It wasn't condescending in the least, Orville realized. He was simply curious.

"I trust him with my life," Orville answered immediately.

"And what about your friends' lives?"

That brought him up short. He knew that Roman looked out for himself first, Orville second, and everyone else a distant third. Could he really place the well being of any of his friends in the sticky hands of a world-renowned thief?

"I...I don't know," he finally said honestly. "But that doesn't matter. I'll be the one going on those raids alone, not them. So the point is moot."

"And how long will it be before Cinder Fall finds traces of your handiwork in her destroyed Dust hideaways and weapons caches and puts two and two together?" Now Ozpin's gaze was more challenging. "This woman is not to be taken lightly, Mr. Doyle. She fatally wounded one of the most powerful Huntresses in the world with only two people for backup, and her strength has only increased from there. No matter how much faith you have in yourself, I would strongly advise that you not walk this path alone."

Suddenly Orville realized how hypocritical he sounded. Not even four hours ago, he'd been telling Blake that she should rely on her friends and now he was seriously considering attacking Cinder's stash.

"Maybe you're right," he relented, sitting back in the chair. "Maybe this should be handled by actual Hunters instead of a smuggler playing pretend..."

"There are a few whom I have a great amount of trust in," Ozpin said in what would have been an offhand tone for anyone else. But the headmaster didn't exactly strike Orville as someone who did _anything_ offhand.

"Well then I suppose it'd only be natural for me to pass along any information I might get to you so you can figure out what to do with it," Orville offered.

"I suppose it would be," Ozpin huffed slightly. "I must say from my staff's reports I didn't think you would be so amenable to working with me."

Orville scoffed. "I can swallow my pride when I see a good opportunity," he explained. "This agreement covers all my bases for the time being, and I don't even have to do anything special."

Ozpin smiled. "When you put it that way, it does seem like a rather easy choice."

"So are we done here, then?" Orville asked, and when he got a simple nod he got up and headed toward the single point of egress. "Good. I haven't seen my team all weekend, and I'm pretty sure they're gonna be insufferable as it is."

"Best of luck to you, Mr. Doyle," Ozpin's words floated after him as elevator's doors closed on him.

That hadn't been as horrible as Orville had imagined it might be, in all honesty. Sure, he was pretty much beholden to another extremely powerful individual, but at least Ozpin wasn't making any demands of him yet. If the old man ever did, then he'd be in for a big surprise at just how stubborn Orville could be when he really dug his heels in.

He idly wondered what the Hunters Ozpin had in mind would be like. Probably professionals through and through, with not a hint of weakness to be seen, if Goodwitch was any indication of the sort of people the headmaster placed his trust in.

Orville made his way quickly back to his dorm, but when the door opened he barely managed to discern a multi-colored blob before he was accosted by at least three different individuals. The multi-sided assault threw him off balance enough that he and his attackers all wound up on the floor of the ORNP room in a jumbled heap that took several awkward minutes (and some minor groping) to disentangle everyone's limbs. Ruby, Nora, and Yang had been the ones who initially bowled him over, but somehow Pyrrha and Ren had gotten caught up in the dog-pile as well during the wild flailing. Blake, Weiss, and Sun were seated on ORNP's chairs off to the side, all wearing various expressions of amusement (and in Weiss' case poorly-faked disdain).

"What happened?" Ruby demanded, leaning over him when he tried to get up. "You didn't get expelled, did you? Because I'm sure we can talk Headmaster Ozpin into giving you another chance..."

"Nah, we're all good," Orville promised, reaching up to ruffle Ruby's hair fondly. "Didn't even get a slap on the wrist. I'm just gonna be passing whatever Roman sends me off to Oz so he can relegate to some Hunters he knows."

"Wait, so we're not going to be engaging in the raids on Cinder's supplies?" Blake asked, frowning.

Shaking his head, Orville replied, "I brought it up, but Ozzy persuaded me to let him take care of it. This way, we have more time to prepare for when the shit inevitably hits the fan."

"At least _something_ good came of your shenanigans today," Weiss harrumphed. "My father wasn't too pleased when I informed him of our losses today."

"There was barely any collateral damage to the shipment and Roman only got away with, like, three crates of Burn Dust," Orville shot back. "What's Papa Schnee got his undies in a bunch for?"

Weiss's face twisted into a complicated expression that Orville couldn't quite decipher. "My father is the head of the shipping division of our company," she revealed. "Any deviation to his schedule is met with...less than pleasant outbursts, and things haven't exactly been to schedule lately when it comes to Dust shipments arriving on time. Or even at all."

"Tough tits," Orville rolled his eyes flippantly. "And old dude like him should know that life doesn't always go as planned."

"Tell that to him," she snapped acidly, then blinked, seeming surprised at herself. "I-I'm sorry."

"Forget about it," he waved off her apology. "So, who else is tired as fuck?" He gazed longingly at his bed, thankful that he wouldn't have to share a sleeper sofa with a monkey Faunus who liked to move around in his sleep.

"You don't get off that easily, Gloriously Dense Leader," Nora waggled an angry finger in front of his face before booping him on the nose. "You still have to explain why you didn't call for your team in your desperate time of need!"

"...we should probably let you guys work this out alone," Yang suggested, and the others quickly agreed, offering quick goodbyes and sweet dreams before ORNP's door slammed shut behind them.

Nora had her hands on her hips, wearing an expectant expression, while Pyrrha and Ren stood to either side of her, arms crossed. Apparently they'd heard about the little dust-up at the docks from RWBY.

"Um...well you see what had happened was," Orville began, "we were already trying to figure out how we could get back at Cinder without implicating me, right? So me and Ruby ended up deciding not to call you because if you were there then it'd be almost too easy for the bad guys to come to the conclusion that I wasn't on their side."

"He's a liar!" Ruby's muffled voice issued from behind the door. "He's the one who decided that on his own!"

Orville winced. "Okay, so maybe it was me, but the point still stands."

"Hypocrite," that was Blake.

"On the bright side, the plan worked, and now we've got Roman shuffling info to us with Cinder none the wiser." Orville tried to offer them a confident smile that obviously didn't quite pass muster, judging by his team's unimpressed looks.

"Orville, we're a team," Pyrrha said firmly. "Regardless of whether or not our inclusion, or lack thereof, in this plan was necessary, we still would like to have been informed that you were basically risking your life tonight." Orville looked away as shame began to pool in his gut. "What if the plan hadn't worked, or something went awry and you never came back? How do you think that would have made _us_ feel?"

"We would have felt like it was our fault," Ren answered for him when he stayed silent. "Would you have wanted that?"

"No!" Orville denied instantly. "Why do you think I _ever_ would?"

"You obviously don't trust us," Nora shrugged. "So it's not much of a stretch to think that maybe you don't like us or something either."

"Of course I like you guys!" he said. "You're my _team_. I just don't want to make the same mistakes-" He suddenly cut himself off as his mind froze up, filled with blood and screams. "I don't want to lose you," he finished in a subdued tone.

"What mistakes are you talking about?" Pyrrha murmured gently, kneeling down so she was beside him. She reached out for his shoulder, but Orville shied away. Hurt flashed across his partner's face, but he wouldn't be swayed.

"Not this time, Pyrrha," he breathed. "Not this secret."

Whatever they saw on his face must have been a convincing enough argument to drop the subject, though their eyes were full of concern and doubt.

A slight shuffling from behind the door followed by a soft click let him know that Team RWBY had stopped their eavesdropping as Pyrrha held out a hand to him. He looked up at her in confusion, and she smiled wryly.

"Despite your recalcitrance, you're still my partner," she said as she hauled him to his feet. "It doesn't matter if you don't tell me whatever you're keeping to yourself." Her smile turned sly. "I'll find out eventually."

Orville grinned reluctantly. "I don't deserve you, Champ."

"No," she agreed, "but I think I'll keep you around regardless."

* * *

 **After-Action Report:** And there we have it. That about wraps up the first season arc, and the next chapter or two will cover what Orville will be getting up to during the semester break. So look forward to _that_ , I guess.

That whole opening conversation about _Sport of Dominion_ (which is, as you've probably guessed a _Game of Thrones_ Bland-Name Product) is a little Seinfeldian, but it seemed like a good opener. If you're confused, here's are the real-world equivalents:

 _Sport of Dominion_ = _Game of Thrones_  
Dusk Guard= Night's Watch  
The Big Alternate= The Great Other  
The Partition= The Wall  
Jym Ice= Jon Snow  
Mannis= Stannis  
Lady Rockaorta= Lady Stoneheart (I know, it's a stretch)

Anyway, that was mostly because I'm fairly excited for the new season, so I'm sorry you had to put up with that.

I had a difficult time deciding what to do with the dock scene since the entire debacle occurred in canon because Blake wanted to know for certain that the White Fang was responsible, whereas here everybody was already aware of it.

The fight itself is pretty bland, but that's mostly because Roman and Orville weren't actually fighting for realsies. I think I'll add a chapter to _Golden Tails_ either tomorrow or Saturday detailing the fight against the grunts from probably Yang's PoV, though that'll more or less just be a repeat of her Trailer fight with White Fang guys in place of Junior's employees. Maybe a Colonel or two to spice things up?

The last scene ended up being a little more depressing than I'd hoped, but it does fit with the first arc's themes of trust and friendship, so I suppose I can allow it. Plus I don't really feel like redoing it, so...yeah.

That's about it for now. I appreciate the reviews, follows, and favorites this odd little story has garnered so far, and I hope you enjoyed this update. Feedback is most definitely appreciated, anything I may have missed or questions you may have can be brought up in a review or PM. Thanks for dropping by; have a great day!


	9. Come Away With Me

**Author's Note:** Well, it looks like I'm going to be updating on the first Thursday of every month, unless I get hit with another random bout of inspiration. I haven't had much time to write recently, but I managed to bang this out in between all of life's ruthless sucker punches.

Also, Feliz Cinco de Mayo to all my Chicanos out there! Viva Puebla!

 **Disclaimer** and **Warning** still apply from the first chapter.

* * *

Chapter 9: Come Away With Me

* * *

With a spring in his step, Orville bounded down the halls of Beacon away from the supply center with a stone wagon piled high with frontier gear following him around like a lost puppy. Compared to the last couple of weeks, the days leading up to the semester break had been almost tame (if one discounted the fact that he was in constant proximity to some of the most _explosive_ personalities in Vale).

After the dust had settled from their little encounter with Roman and the White Fang at the docks, Teams RWBY, ORNP, and CRDL had gone back to their training routines, and the hard work was finally beginning to show.

Orville was thoroughly pleased with his team's progress. Nora had finally managed to generate little sparks of electricity along her body that would shock the hell out of anyone who had the bright idea of physically assaulting her (though he wondered at the wisdom of facilitating this since she would randomly zap people by booping them every now and then). Ren could consistently hold out against even Ruby's enhanced speed for an extended length of time without falling to the floor in exhaustion, and was now working on his Semblance's more offensive capabilities. Pyrrha's magnetic control had drastically increased to the point where she could reliably maintain a ring of steel shrapnel floating around her without affecting her combat.

Team CRDL had been showing vast improvements in their skills as well. Cardin's mace-handling prowess was getting better by leaps and bounds (sometimes literally now that he'd figured out how to use Inquisitor's explosions to boost himself around the battlefield without blowing himself up). Russel's Sonic the Porcupine spinning technique had become much more intimidating now that he could go a full two minutes without pausing to up-chuck from the dizziness. Sky had also improved with his weapon, though not as much as the others; currently he was the weak link in CRDL despite the zeal with which he threw himself into the training. Dove was perhaps the most capable in his team at that point, able to stand on even ground with most of the others on a good day.

Ruby's team hadn't shown quite as much development, but that was because of the fact that they didn't have the same amount of group practice as the others. Still, that didn't mean there was no advancement. Weiss was becoming much quicker with her glyph deployment and Dust management, and was coming into her own with both support and utility action. Yang's kick-boxing was undergoing a massive overhaul with Orville, Pyrrha, Ren, and surprisingly Russel offering bits and pieces of their own unarmed styles to the already formidable art her father had taught her. Blake's clones were capable of staying tangible for very close to a full minute, and she was slowly figuring out how to meld her Aura constructs with Dust for some fairly entertaining (not to mention incredibly useful) results. Ruby's skillset was the hardest to develop for the simple fact that no one else had a good enough handle on the way she wielded Crescent Rose in conjunction with her Semblance. Eventually they'd decided on coaching her in hand-to-hand fighting, though it was slow going since she had very little foundation in that form of combat.

But the point remained that they were all improving at a good clip, and Orville was beginning to feel pretty optimistic about their chances against whatever Cinder had planned. He'd even begun to experiment in mixing his Dust together with the help of Weiss and Russel, the only other people in their group who utilized the substance to any significant degree, and so far they'd already come up several different combinations.

With the break only a few days away, Orville had decided that he was going to head back out to the Grimmlands to stock up on Dust, and once the others had caught wind of his intentions quite a few had offered (really _demanded_ ) to join him. CRDL had declined, citing the fact that they wanted to see their families again after a whole semester apart, but the rest had been all for it, Sun included.

He'd tried to warn them about the various and sundry dangers of the wilderness, but they would be having none of his 'excuses', to borrow Yang's use of air quotes.

"What if something happened to you out there?" Ruby had argued. "You've been here at Beacon for months, what if you got soft and some Grimm ate you?"

Orville had taken offense to that, but the others had quickly ganged up on him, citing the old _united we stand_ adage and had overruled his protests. They'd even gone over his head and told the headmaster about the change to his plans, and the only thing Ozpin had done was commend him for thinking up such an innovative team-building exercise and offered the use of Beacon's substantial supplies.

Honestly, he hadn't dug his heels in as much as he could have. The prospect of sharing his experiences with his friends was kind of appealing, really. Plus he'd finally get to show Yang once and for all that those damn rocks _didn't_ look like lipstick no matter what she said about the lighting and the angles from which the pictures had been taken.

So now he was on his way to sort out the wilderness supplies for eight with express permission from Ozpin to get the best the school had to offer (which was pretty damn good, considering they were training the folks who kept the citizens safe and sound in their cushy kingdom). The quartermaster hadn't looked pleased with giving him all the items on his list, but the headmaster's word was law at Beacon.

He made his way back to the ORNP dorm and coaxed the wagon inside before rapping out a quick shave-and-a-haircut on the opposite door.

Weiss answered wearing a scowl and her nightgown, and Orville took a moment to realize why; he'd been so excited to gather everything together that he hadn't noticed it was still only six-thirty in the morning. He probably should have figured that out based on the fact that even Pyrrha hadn't been awake when he'd left either. Maybe _that_ was why the quartermaster had been so grumpy...

"Two bits," she ground out irritably, but Orville grinned regardless. Weiss wasn't precisely who he'd had in mind, but Serendipity had always had a soft spot in her heart for him. He knew that he was slowly but surely working his way into the heiress' good graces, and the fact that she actually played along with his knock was a testament to that.

"You're not actually supposed to _say_ that part, Edelweiss," he snickered before gesturing behind him. "Wanna help organize the stuff I got from the supply center?"

Her expression morphed from vexed to interested, and she craned her neck to catch a glimpse of the wagon just inside his dorm's door. "You're lucky I like arranging things or I'd punch your lights out for waking me up at this ungodly hour," she said. "I'll be over in a few minutes."

Orville turned back and started laying everything out on his bed and the desks. There were the basics of course; sleeping bags, tents, canteens, water purification tablets and iodine powder (just to be safe), field glasses, compasses, and extra blankets. He'd also gotten everyone good weatherproof coats, since he doubted a few of them (Pyrrha and Sun mostly) even had one. Plus all the little things like playing cards, a portable camping stove, a frying pan, and just stuff that would keep their spirits from falling too much. He'd seen low morale literally kill in the Grimmlands, and didn't want his friends to end up the same way.

He'd left the door ajar, so Weiss simply strolled in while he was cataloging the items, and he offered her the extra checklist he'd scrawled out for her. "If you've got anything you may wanna add to that, I'm all ears."

After scanning the paper, Weiss looked up with in bemusement. "Why do we need twenty pounds of pancake mix and fifty gallons of syrup?" she asked.

"I'll give you three guesses," Orville laughed, jerking his head toward his sleeping explosives expert, "and your first two don't count. She'll be the one carrying them, though, so don't worry about having to distribute it among the packs."

Nodding thoughtfully, she continued down the list, humming every once in a while at something she found of interest. At one point, her eyes shot up toward him in a baleful glare, face red. "Wh-why are there condoms on this list?"

"Extra water storage, Edelweiss," Orville explained, rolling his eyes. "Light, compact, and each one can hold about two liters of water. There's a bunch of other stuff you can use condoms for in a wilderness setting, too, but the main reason is to hold water." As he spoke, Weiss' blush receded, and he couldn't help but add, "Plus, if anyone gets frisky out there, we're prepared."

He was lucky she'd left Myrtenaster in her dorm, otherwise he'd have gotten more than just a bruised shoulder.

"You seem to have actually thought of just about everything we may need," she finally admitted, sounding grudgingly impressed. "Even items like a crank-powered scroll charger."

"Well it's either that or have Sourpuss hiking through the Grimmlands with half a library's worth of books," he replied with a shrug. "This way she can just download some onto her scroll and be done with it."

"I don't see any Dust, though," Weiss pointed out. "And that's sort of a big thing when it comes to my needs."

"We're heading out there to _get_ the Dust," reminded Orville. "Granted, it isn't 'mined and refined by the Schnee Dust Company', but I can powder it so Myrtenaster can utilize it."

Weiss pursed her lips, but nodded. "Very well, let's get all this settled into the packs before the others get up and make a mess of things."

As they began to organize what went where, Orville caught her casting what she must have thought were surreptitious glances toward him every once in a while. It didn't exactly bother him, but he could tell she had a question for him.

"Something on your mind?" he asked casually the next time she peeked over.

She flushed at having been caught, but forged ahead anyway. "Do you remember when we first met, and you said something about my sister?"

"You wanna know how I know her?" he surmised, and she bobbed her head. "Well, it's not like we're best buddies or anything. Gin and I were thinking about extending our operations into Atlas so I went along with a few samples under my clothes on a passenger airship. Only, you know how weird my luck is. Turns out Winter was the one in charge of the customs department that day. I later found out that it was her first day on the job there."

Weiss' eyes gleamed in remembrance. "I think I remember that now," she muttered, a slow grin forming on her lips. "She'd just been promoted to Staff Sergeant in the Atlas Army."

"That explains why she was so gung-ho about the pat-downs," Orville noted before continuing. "I was able to move the Dust around so that they couldn't find it, but the stupid Dust detector kept going off whenever I passed through so she eventually had me strip down to my skivvies. I tried to make it so the Dust looked like...er...like a certain appendage that all males have in common had woken up." Weiss' eyebrows disappeared beneath her bangs as she finally comprehended his meaning, and that brilliant blush rose up her face once more.

"I was _so_ close to pulling it off, too," he lamented, shaking his head as he recalled the situation. "Only I was, like, fifteen at the time, and your sister is a _very_ good-looking woman..."

"Oh, _no_ ," Weiss hissed, looking torn between disbelief and horror.

"Oh, _yes_ ," Orville admitted shamefully. "So there I was in my underwear with what looked for all intents and purposes like I had not one, but _two_ raging erections tenting my boxers and Winter Schnee glaring a hole in my head."

Orville wasn't sure how he expected Weiss to react to his tale, but bursting into an uncontrollable fit of laughter definitely _wasn't_ it.

"H-holy rainbows of Remnant," she gasped after finally managing to control herself. "Wow, at least now I know why she would get so flustered every time I asked her about that." She shook her head, thoroughly amused. "What did she _do_?"

"She damn near killed me," he said, lifting his shirt and showing her a dark splotch of skin that traveled from his left hip up across his ribs to just below his shoulder blade. She winced sympathetically at how deep the scarring went. "If I'd been just a second slower I would've been frozen solid; might've even ended up a decoration at the airship terminal as a deterrent: Warning, Do NOT Show Boner to the Customs Attendant."

Weiss snorted in a manner most unbefitting of a Schnee. "I hope for your sake that Winter doesn't come visit me anytime soon," she jested. "Though in all likelihood she will come for the Vytal Festival."

"Just give me a heads-up so I can stay far away," he chuckled.

"How did you get out of there, anyway?"

"I had to fall back on my old street skills." He shook his head, smiling as nostalgia washed over him. "I stayed incognito for a month before Winter eventually called off the search. Even then I had to head to one of the smaller terminals and book a flight to Mistral since she'd have been looking out for anyone matching my description trying to get back to Vale. Your sister's a very persistent person, I'll give her that much."

"Winter is...incredibly driven," Weiss acknowledged in a more subdued voice. Orville raised an eyebrow at the change in her demeanor, but didn't comment. After a few moments of silence as they stuffed the packs full of supplies, he was rewarded for his patience. "She _was_ supposed to be the heir to the company, you know."

He cocked his head to the side curiously, remembering that he'd asked about that during their first interaction. "What happened?"

Weiss let out a breath, piercing him with an appraising gaze before letting her eyes fall. "My father is a man who has no time for foolishness," she said. "All our lives, my sister and I have been given the best tutors and instructors in order to achieve the excellence he demands of us as scions of the Schnee family. It was how our grandfather raised him, and his father before that." She worried her lip for a moment, seeming to choose her words carefully. "After she finished her training at Atlas Academy, she felt that she had an obligation-not just to the kingdom, but to Remnant as a whole-that she could only fulfil in the military. Father was understandably furious with her, having spent a fortune on preparing her for the responsibilities she would face as a future head of the Schnee Dust Company, but she wouldn't budge."

"So he focused all of that attention on you instead," Orville guessed, and she dipped her chin once. "Don't get mad or anything, but that sounds like a pretty selfish thing for your sister to do."

Weiss glared at him. "It _wasn't_ self-indulgence that drove Winter," she defended passionately. "My sister gave up a life of guaranteed luxury in order to serve her kingdom!"

"And left you to take up her role instead," he countered. "I might not be the best judge since I don't have parents or siblings, but it seems like the whole situation could've been handled better." He shrugged when he saw her bristle indignantly and added, "But what do I know, right? There's probably some subtle family thing at work that I've forgotten about. Disregard my stupidity."

"It's...not stupidity," Weiss conceded, shaking her head. "I don't blame either of them for doing what they feel is right, but...there's just so much pressure on me to be the best at everything. _I'm_ going to eventually become the head of one of the most influential and wealthy companies in the world, and sometimes I feel as though _I'm_ the one being selfish, dithering away my time trying to become a Huntress instead of learning more about the business."

"Well, Winter went to Atlas when she was still slated to inherit," Orville pointed out. "How is you being at Beacon any different?" Weiss didn't answer, so he forged on. "I don't think it's selfish to want to improve yourself and make new friends, and that's exactly what you're doing here, right?"

"Right," she allowed.

"So then I don't see the problem," he concluded. "You're just taking a bit of a sabbatical from the rigors of heiress training, and once you're done you'll have contacts in the Hunter circles when you eventually become the president of the SDC or whatever." He gave her a supportive nudge with his shoulder. "Plus, you've got a roguishly handsome young man on your side who just so happens to be the world's greatest smuggler. I might be persuaded to help you out in surveying some new mining sites. For the right price, of course..."

"Don't flatter yourself," she scoffed, but the hints of a tiny smile made him grin triumphantly.

A loud yawn from Pyrrha's bed made them both look over to see the Mistrali champion stretch languorously as she awoke. She rubbed her eyes blearily, blinking as she took in scene before her.

"Weiss?" she asked, puzzled. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm helping to pack the supplies," the heiress answered promptly, favoring Pyrrha with a warm (for her) nod. "Orville asked for my assistance, and I figured that if he was left to his own devices we'd all end up running out of necessities and starve in the Grimmlands."

Orville smiled ruefully. It seemed he still had a ways to go to get Weiss to act like she didn't hate his guts around the others, but he supposed she needed to save face for that whole thing where he'd apparently seen her unmentionables. Honestly, he didn't remember much of that night, what with being concussed and disoriented by getting exploded (and he was fairly certain that sap had some sort of hallucinogenic effects on him on top of that). Oh, well; he was pretty patient when he needed to be.

* * *

"So, you're the little miscreant who wants to take my daughters out into the Grimmlands unsupervised, huh?"

Orville blinked in confusion at the large blonde man who was staring up at him. He'd been flipping through a designer Dust catalog in the tree he and Ruby usually shared (mostly in order to check the competition) when he was interrupted by the man's belligerent voice.

A cursory sweep of the area alerted him to Yang and Ruby standing a few yards away. When she caught his eye, Yang waved and grinned while Ruby offered a thumbs-up. So that must make this guy their dad, Taiyang Xiao Long. Orville figured he should probably try for a good first impression, then.

"What's it to ya?" he growled, jutting his chin out stubbornly. Yeah, that sounded about right.

Taiyang seemed taken aback for about half a second before pursing his lips. "When I'd heard that Yang and Ruby were headed off into the Grimmlands, I figured I should see what sort of uncouth ruffian would even suggest something so stupid, just so I could witness such blatant idiocy with my own eyes," he retorted.

"Well I didn't tell them to come, if that's what you're thinking," Orville defended himself. "Come to think of it, I don't think I even told them I was going in the first place. They found out where I was spending my break and sort of...invited themselves."

Now it was Taiyang's turn to blink a few times, glancing back toward where his daughters watched the exchange. "Huh," he muttered, sounding unsurprised. "Well, they _do_ take after their mothers..."

"And it's not just us, either," Orville continued, folding up the magazine and dropping to the ground smoothly. Taiyang towered a good eight inches over him, but he wouldn't let that intimidate him. "The rest of our teams are coming along as well, not that I invited _them_ either. The only one I actually told was... _Ozpin_." Scowling, Orville made a mental note to pick a bone with the gray-haired bastard after the break.

"Oh." That seemed to take the wind out of his anger's sails. "Well, it's still incredibly dangerous out there," he tried to rally his argument. "Have you ever been in the Grimmlands?"

"I practically _lived_ there for about half my life," Orville offered. "Didn't Yang and Ruby tell you about me?" Wasn't it a common practice for people to tell their parents about their friends?

"No," Taiyang whined, his demeanor changing drastically as he went from overprotective dad to uninformed parent in half the time it took to blink. "They never tell me _anything_ about how they're doing at Beacon." Orville deliberated for a moment before pulling up a couple of chairs. Taiyang slumped into the one closest to him without a second thought and put his head in his hands. "I feel like my babies are growing up too fast, and pretty soon they'll be leaving the nest and never talk to me again!"

Clearing his throat uncomfortably, Orville awkwardly patted Taiyang on the shoulder. "There, there," he mumbled in what he hoped was a consoling tone. "I'm sure they were just too wrapped up in adjusting to a new environment. You know how teenagers are."

To Orville's utter mortification, Taiyang sniffled a bit before leaning forward and capturing him in a bone-crushing hug that made even Nora's tightest embraces pale in comparison. "Th-thanks, little buddy!" the alleged adult sobbed. "You're a good kid, you know that?"

"I'm starting to wish that I wasn't," Orville wheezed. His eyes sought out the two sisters, pleading silently for assistance, but judging by the fact that Yang was doubled over from laughter while Ruby held onto her for support he figured there would be no help on that front.

"So, what happened to your parents, then?" Taiyang asked curiously as he relinquished his hold on Orville, once again switching emotions like another would change hats; this guy's mood swings were liable to give Orville whiplash. "I doubt anyone would allow their child to roam the Grimmlands otherwise."

"They died at Lighthouse," Orville replied, setting his jaw and _daring_ the man to say something about it. He'd gotten enough flak after informing the rest of his friends about that little fact, and he didn't want any pity from Yang and Ruby's dad.

"Ouch," Taiyang muttered, wincing. "I know that feel, little buddy. My parents died in a freak sap explosion. The accident that killed them is part of the reason people don't use Forever Fall sap in commercial factories anymore."

Commiseration wasn't too much better than pity, but it was the thought that counted, Orville supposed. And he made a note to round up whatever was left of Nora's sap stash and fling it as far into the Emerald Forest as possible (the back of his head throbbed in a fit of phantom pain).

"Well, that sucks," Orville offered, unable to think of anything else to say in response. "So...is there anything else you wanted to talk about besides Sunshine and Little Red intruding on what was supposed to be my vacation?"

"Oh, yeah!" Taiyang perked up. "I almost forgot about that." Before Orville could react to his suddenly screaming instincts, a large fist collided with his sternum, flinging him several yards away; he would have gone further if it hadn't been for the tree which had graciously and abruptly halted his short flight. Orville groaned as he sat up, rubbing his chest and back as he tried to focus on the obviously insane man. "If you ever so much as _look_ at either of my daughters with anything less than pure thoughts, I'll punch you again. But next time they won't be bare."

Shaking off the disorientation, Orville jumped to his feet and wheezed, "What the fuck is _wrong_ with you, man!? Are you off your meds or something?"

Taiyang frowned, pulling a pill box out of his cargo shorts and counted. "Today's...Tuesday?" he inquired, pointing at the section indicated. "Nope, there's nothing in there so I must have taken them."

Orville took several deep breaths, both to make sure his lungs were still functional and in order to regain some semblance of calm. "Your whole family is starting to become one _monumental_ pain in my ass, are you aware of that?"

The man had the audacity to smile brightly. "The apples don't fall far from the tree, you know," he conceded. "You have a good time out there, and if my daughters are hurt in any way, I'll break your legs!"

And with that morbidly cheerful statement, Taiyang Xiao Long waved and walked away, gathering his progeny into a big hug before heading off toward the airship docks. Yang and Ruby drew up alongside him as he was making his way toward the medical wing.

"So that was a thing," Yang grinned, slinging an arm around his shoulders. "I can tell he likes you."

Orville winced slightly as his ribs argued the counterpoint. "Yeah, I was just thinking that," he grumbled uncharitably. "Seriously, though. Is he actually on psych meds?"

"Nope," Ruby giggled as she skipped along beside him. "He just carries around a pill box on the off-chance someone accuses him of something like that."

Eyebrows raised, Orville snorted. "Well, I can't fault him for his dedication," he admitted reluctantly. "Your old man's certainly...something. How come you don't tell him about Beacon? He seemed kinda bummed about that."

Yang made an incredulous face. "You've just met the man and you're really asking that?" she asked in disbelief. "I mean, don't get me wrong; I love my dad to death, but he's not exactly someone you write home to without a healthy fear of him showing up and dropping the mother of all embarrassment bombs upon arrival."

"Well whatever," he shrugged. "I'm just glad that Champ and Edelweiss don't have family on this continent, or I'd probably be getting a visit from a Schnee and someone who raised a champion pit fighter, and my poor body can only take so much damage."

"Yeah, knowing you, you'd probably mortally offend both of them enough to land you six feet under," Yang agreed glibly as she steered him by the shoulders. "Now come on and help me pack."

Orville frowned in confusion. "Everything's ready for the trip already," he said. "I thought I'd told you that."

Ruby tugged on his sleeve. "You forgot to include all of Yang's shampoo and stuff on your list," she pointed out. "In case you haven't noticed, she's kind of got this thing about hair maintenance."

With a strangled grunt that was equal parts frustration and pain, Orville was dragged off to the RWBY dorm for a crash course in hair-care products. Really, all he needed for _his_ hair was a two-in-one bottle of _Scalp & Scapula_.

* * *

After what felt like forever, the first day of break arrived. RWBY and ORNP (and Sun) had spent the night in Gin's barn in preparation for departure, and Orville gleefully woke everyone up in the pitch-black hours before dawn to get the jump on any guard patrols who may or may not be asleep at their posts thanks to a liberal spread of Tiger's Eye darts.

Everyone had their supplies ready, as well as a few personal extras each, while Orville had brought out his own well-worn pack which had seen him through thick and thin out in the Grimm wilderness. After a hearty breakfast and some last-minute triple checks, the expedition filed out of the barn toward the tool shed a mere handful of yards away from Vale's protective wall.

Gin was already waiting in front, slouched casually in the Eagle Five while Barf lazed about near the wheels. Curiously, there was another pack resting in his lap.

"Here to see us off, old-timer?" Yang grinned.

"Yep," Gin affirmed. "Gotta make sure none o' y'all steals my gardenin' supplies when ya make the trip under the wall." He shot a pointed look toward Ruby and Crescent Rose, who pulled off the innocent whistle perfectly.

"What's the bag for?" Orville asked warily. "Didn't think you had it in you for another jaunt through the good country."

" 'taint for me, Runt," growled Gin.

"It's for me!" The door to the shed slid open soundlessly, and out stepped none other than Jaune, smiling all-too-brightly for the time of day as he swept his students with a sunny expression.

"Professor!" Nora exclaimed happily, bounding up to him. "I didn't know Orville invited you, too!"

"That's because I didn't," Orville muttered, frowning down at Gin. "What's the deal, Old Bastard?"

"Don't look at me," Gin answered unhelpfully with a careless shrug. "Showed up 'round one this mornin' an' just sorta stuck by."

"You didn't think Headmaster Ozpin would let two of his best first-year teams go wandering around the Grimmlands without proper supervision did you?" Jaune asked in lieu of an answer.

Orville rubbed a hand over his face in long-suffering silence. He _knew_ Ozpin had agreed too easily. Before he could curse the gray-haired son of a bitch in his mind, the rest of the party of adventurers all crowded around Jaune, altogether too ready to allow the prodigious Hunter to join them.

"Whatever," Orville grunted. "I guess one more couldn't hurt."

And with that said, he strode through the door into the shed and created a tunnel which would take them a mile past the wall and into the lands beyond Vale City. From there, it was half a day's march to Lighthouse where they would catch an airship to Alabaster Nest, the southernmost terminal controlled by Vale's government.

During the ride, Orville learned (with a certain level of sadistic glee) that their great and powerful teacher suffered from severe motion sickness. He enjoyed seeing Jaune green about the gills for a few moments until the girls began to fawn over the incapacitated blonde man, who didn't seem opposed to the attention.

Orville pursed his lips, then withdrew a bit of Alexandrite and Amethyst, powdering the Dust with his Semblance and mixing them in a three-to-one ratio before crystallizing it once more to produce a shimmering, almost completely clear pin of Dust he'd started calling Quartz. It had taken some doing, but he and Weiss had figured out that the two variants he had which had vague healing properties could be combined to create a sort of panacea.

They hadn't fully tested its effectiveness, but it worked on just about everything they'd tried, from the common cold (which got a lot more _un_ common when it affected Hunters) all the way up to high-speed spinning-induced nausea (after that test, Russel had gotten down on his knees and begged for the recipe).

"Arc," he said, and when Jaune looked up, Orville nailed him in the forehead with the Quartz shard. "That should ease the motion sickness." The professor went cross-eyed as his fingers gently probed the sharp bit of Dust lodged in his skin. For a moment, he almost looked like he was about to throw up on Orville before an awed expression stole across his face.

Jaune stood abruptly, patting his belly in amazement while a massive smile threatened to break his jaw. "Orville," he murmured, wonder coloring his voice. "Do you know what you've just done?"

"Uh, fulfilled one of my most persistent desires by throwing a Dust dart at your face?" Orville guessed with a shrug, only to get a warning slap on the shoulder from Pyrrha.

"Besides that," Jaune grinned. "There's an old Arc legend in which one of my ancestors angered a great wind spirit who cursed the whole family to forever be plagued by airsickness."

"Sounds like a petty revenge to me," Ren quipped idly. "If it was such a great wind spirit, it should have brought down tornadoes or something." Orville raised an eyebrow at his male teammate, who shrugged. "I'm just saying..."

"I doubt there's _actually_ a wind spirit involved," Jaune said. "But it _is_ true that every single member of my family going back to the very first aircraft get airsick, and none of the normal methods of treating motion sickness have ever worked." He then gestured to the pin still sticking out of his forehead. "Except this stuff."

Orville traded a gleeful look with Weiss. "Looks like Quartz is more potent than we'd initially thought," he noted.

"Well, it's only natural that I'd produce such a high-quality product, after all," she simpered with an exaggerated smirk.

"Seriously, I don't think you really know just how big of a deal this is," Jaune continued as he chipped off a sliver of Quartz with his fingernail while digging out a Duster's loupe from an inside pocket of his jacket to inspect it more closely. "You two are miracle workers."

Weiss beamed at the praise. "I'm glad I could help, Professor," she gushed helpfully. Orville pursed his lips, but kept his comments to himself, instead turning back to Jaune.

"So, Arc...Jaune," Orville spoke up. "We're gonna be all together for a few weeks, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?"

"Yeah!" Ruby perked up immediately. "I'd love to learn more about my favorite professor!"

Jaune scratched the back of his neck self-consciously as he glanced at the group's eager faces, an odd tic for the normally confident teacher. "Um, well there's not much to tell really," he hedged uncomfortably. "I grew up in a little village outside of Vale called Pallet with a big family, got some basic Hunter training from them, received my certification when I was fourteen, and I've been taking missions for Headmaster Ozpin since."

"Well," Blake deadpanned after a moment. "I can see why you're not a language professor."

"Yeah, I've never been the best storyteller," Jaune admitted with a chuckle. "My mom's great at it, though. She can take a boring old fairy tale like _Cold Iron Shackles_ and make it come to life."

"You said you had a large family," Pyrrha said curiously. "How large, exactly?"

"There's mom and dad, of course," Jaune began, counting them off on his fingers. "Jet and Jonquil Arc, then my seven sisters-"

"Wait, you've got _seven_ sisters?" Orville interrupted, feeling a sudden inexplicable surge of sympathy for Jaune.

"Ah, yeah," Jaune said sheepishly. "All of them older, too. I had a lot to live up to growing up, what with all of them being _incredible_ Huntresses."

"But you outstripped them all!" Ruby piped up eagerly. "You got your Huntsman's license when you were only thirteen, the youngest to be certified since the Hunter Association's inception!"

Jaune nodded in agreement, though with a slight downturn to his lips. "I suppose that's true," he acknowledged. "My family's reaction to that was... _mixed_ , though, as you can imagine."

"Why?" Nora wondered, looking confused. "If I had a relative as awesome as you, I'd be totally _stoked_!"

"Nora," Ren said gently, giving the professor an apologetic shrug. "Not everyone is as enthusiastic as you are about most things."

"My parents hadn't truly wanted any of us to be Hunters, actually," Jaune confided. "My father was always going on about the Arc Family Curse, and not the airsickness. It's in an Arc's veins to become a hero, and that was his deepest fear."

Orville's mouth twisted itself into a grimace while he pondered Jaune's words even as Weiss spoke up. "Why would that be a bad thing, though?" she asked, her forehead crinkling.

Jaune hesitated, glancing from one face to the next. "Heroes," he began slowly, "are constantly in a very perilous position. More often than not, they find themselves in insanely dangerous situations, and are given terrible quests to complete or horrific choices to make. Heroes take up the the grim task of protecting those unable to do so themselves, and in doing so transform themselves into shields against that which would hurt those under their charge."

He offered them all a wan smile, and in Jaune's eyes, Orville spotted a swirl of complete and utter exhaustion. It wasn't the sort that came from working from dusk until dawn and being forced to stay up beyond that, or the kind that seeps into one's bones after trekking across a continent. In Jaune's eyes, Orville saw a tiredness he sometimes noticed in Gin's eyes, one accrued over a lifetime of hardship and tragedy. It certainly didn't belong in Jaune.

"The funny thing about shields," Jaune muttered, looking down at his hands as they clenched together, "is that no matter how well they're made or how much Aura you use to fortify them, they always buckle when they come against a force they aren't able to stop. All of my sisters and I took that burden upon ourselves even after Dad explained all that, and all he could do was pass on the Arc family weapons."

Orville was of the same school of thought for the most part. He didn't particularly enjoy bailing people out of hopeless circumstances, especially if it placed him squarely in the cross-hairs of danger and peril, but that wasn't going to stop him from doing it anyway.

"Quit being such a Debbie-Downer, Arc...Jaune," Orville grumbled in order to snap everyone out of the temporarily morose funk they'd fallen into. "Everything breaks, everyone dies, big fuckin' deal; it's not like none of us know that. Besides," he gestured to his friends with a smirk, "the more shields there are, the harder it is to break through."

That brought a surprised grin to Jaune's face, and Ruby rallied. "That's right!" she agreed, jumping to her feet as she punched the air above her. "We're the best and most butt-kicking shields out there!"

"With amazing hair," Yang added, flipping her mane gracefully.

"And killer abs," piped up Sun, gesturing to his torso.

"I think that metaphor might have gone a bit off the rails," Blake muttered, rolling her eyes as she swiped at her scroll to turn her e-book's page. However, her lips twitched upward a bit as she said, "But the point is still valid."

Jaune's expression lightened considerably throughout the exchange, and he leaned back in his seat looking more relaxed than Orville had ever seen the professor. "I'm glad I agreed to come on this trip."

"Keep your cum away from my vacation," Orville griped with no heat, somewhat relieved that the shadows in Jaune's eyes had been chased away for the time being. He didn't want some hot-shot bringing everyone down, after all.

As Yang and Sun snorted at his crude comment, Orville hitched one leg up and propped it on the other to get more comfortable in his seat. "So you were telling us about your sisters?" he prompted.

"Well, the youngest after me is Joan..."

* * *

Orville stood upon the edge of the Dark Divide, staring off to the west while sporting what felt to him like the biggest smile he'd ever worn. The Divide was an active continental rift that acted as a natural barrier between the Kingdom of Vale (which included the mega-city as well as the various settlements beyond) and the Grimmlands.

He took a moment to simply breathe in the smells he'd missed so dearly, crooning a few lines of his favorite song as he did. "I want to ride to the ridge where the Grimmland commences, and gaze at the moon 'til I lose my senses..."

"What little you've got left, at any rate." Orville practically jumped out of his skin; he'd completely forgotten about the others, and his spatial awareness had slipped enough that Blake (sly cat that she was) had managed to sneak up without him even noticing.

The dark-haired girl was standing a few feet above him in the branches of a tree, gazing out across the massive rift toward the true wilderness of the Vytal continent with a hint of awe peeking out from the well of amusement in her eyes as she glanced down at him.

"Can't you let me have one moment?" he grumped petulantly.

"No," Blake replied without missing a beat. "If I give you a moment, you'll take a millennium."

"I'm back on my home-turf, now, Sourpuss," Orville warned teasingly, waving his arms around. "I could bury you out here with the flick of a wrist, and no one would _ever_ find you."

"We would," Ruby interrupted as she and Yang walked up. Her arms were folded across her chest and she had pinned Orville with the least-effective stern look he'd ever come across. "Stop threatening my teammate and set up camp, tour guide!"

"But Red," whined Orville. "She was _picking_ on me!"

"No 'buts', young man," Ruby shot back unsympathetically as she pointed back to the spot they'd decided on before ruining what little credibility her authoritarian act possessed by giggling and muttering, "I said 'butt'."

"You sure did, Rubes," Yang said indulgently as she ruffled Ruby's hair, rolling her eyes at Blake and Orville over her sister's head. "You sure did."

"Alright, let's go," Orville relented, heading back to the place where he'd raised a large flat platform of stone. "Gotta teach you city-slickers how we do it out here in the wild."

When they reached the campsite, Jaune was already helping Sun and Weiss with one of the tents while Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren were managing the rest. Pyrrha simply levitated the metal poles into place for her teammates while they settled the Dust-infused canvas, then drove the stakes in with her Semblance. Orville glanced over to RWBY's two tents, which were a complete and utter mess of metal and fabric.

He shot the three behind him an unimpressed look. "Couldn't figure it out yourselves, huh?"

"Hey, it's not my fault I don't know how to set up a tent," Yang gave him a surly pout.

"Actually, Professor Arc went over proper camping procedures during the first month of classes," Blake pointed out. "The first thing we were taught was how to pitch a tent." Yang glared at her partner in betrayal, but Blake either didn't notice or ignored it.

"I bet Yang was too busy pitching a tent for Professor Arc to pay attention," Ruby said slyly. The three older teens traded glances before bursting into barely-controlled giggles.

"That's...that's not _quite_ how that phrase works, Red," Orville explained. "But good effort." He reached into one of the pockets on his utility belt and withdrew a small gold star with the words, ' _You tried_ ' scrawled across it before sticking it to her forehead. "You'll get it eventually."

Ruby's lips puckered in disappointment. "It's tougher than you make it seem," she grumbled to her sister.

"Did you expect to just get to my expert level of teasing overnight, Ruby?" the blonde girl scoffed, buffing her nails on her jacket proudly. "It took years and years of trial and error to get to where I am today." Turning to Orville, she asked, "How many of those do you have?"

"Probably not enough," he responded with a shrug and a smile. "Had 'em made especially for this trip. I expect to have given out all of them by this time next week, and most of them to you."

Yang stuck out her tongue childishly, before changing tack as she gestured to the large expanse of skin between her neck and the collar (such as it was) of her yellow top. "I've got just the place for 'em right here," she murmured in a husky voice.

Orville, never one to ignore when opportunity came knocking, spent a second more than was strictly necessary scoping out the indicated area. "But your hair would look so much better strewn with stars, Sunshine," he answered after getting a proper eyeful.

Pulling her hair over her shoulder to cradle it defensively, she wrinkled her nose. "And get my beautiful locks all sticky? Not even for you, Corndog."

"Would you two just have sex and get it over with?" Blake sighed, rolling her eyes. The others paused in their duties at that, probably wondering what the hell was going on.

"Maybe when we get back," Yang shrugged nonchalantly as she scooped up Ruby into a bear-hug. "I don't want our racous love-making to scar my poor Ruby for life." The younger of the two struggled for a moment before using one of her new hand-to-hand tricks to get the jump on her sister.

"I bet you just wanna hide in a closet and watch, Voyeurpuss," Orville added off-hand, stepping to the side to avoid the tangle of limbs Ruby and Yang had descended into.

Yang grinned as the whirlwind of sisterly love rolled to a halt with her sitting atop Ruby's back, holding her leader's arm in a chicken-wing lock. "I don't mind a little exhibitionism, what about you?"

Blake looked like she was rethinking her attempt at getting a rise out of them while failing to hide the brilliant blush creeping up her face.

"Well how else will we show off our raw sexual might?" Orville replied, snickering at the thoroughly scandalized expression pulling at Weiss' face

"Oh my Gawd!" Ruby shrieked, apparently reaching a breaking point. "Would you two stop? I don't want to spend the rest of the trip listening to this."

"That makes eight of us," Pyrrha muttered, driving the final stake into the earth deeper than she needed to. It was likely meant to have been a private comment to herself, but his poor partner seemed to constantly forget that Orville's hearing was _far_ beyond what she was used to. However, he decided not to call her out on it, knowing that Yang would pounce on the Mistrali like a tiger on a man-cub.

"Alright," Orville relented, shooting Yang a helpless shrug. "If it bothers you that much, I guess we can hold off for a while, right?"

"Yeah, okay," Yang agreed, then lifted a finger. "But I refuse to cease pun-ishing your fragile minds with my insanely clever wordplay." A chorus of groans met her statement, but by that point Yang's puns were about as natural as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.

Once Orville helped ORNP's sister team put up their tents and raised a high, thick ring wall around their camp, the group scarfed down a quick dinner before heading off to sleep. The walk from Alabaster Nest to the Dusk Divide wasn't what the Hunters-in-training were used to even with all the endurance training they'd been undergoing recently, leaving Orville and Jaune (as the two most accustomed to long treks on foot) to take up the first watch in the tall tower of stone in the center of their bivouac.

Jaune lowered the night-vision field glasses from his eyes and turned to Orville. "I bet you're pretty glad to be back out here, huh?"

Orville let a slight grin pull his lips up. "I can't say I didn't miss it," he admitted. "Beacon's...nice enough, given the right company, but there's a certain kind of magic about being away from civilization."

Jaune nodded in understanding, lifting his gaze toward the heavens. Above them, a universe of twinkling lights fought against the eternal, stifling darkness while the broken moon hung low and heavy against the horizon. Ribbons of stars sprawled across the sky, and Orville felt the sheer insignificance of his existence press down upon him as it always did when he took the time to study the night.

A silence stretched out between them for a few minutes. Orville didn't really mind it, being used to such stillness, but he could tell Jaune was starting to feel uncomfortable judging by the occasional flash of blue as the professor stole glances his way.

"Er...so," Jaune finally broke the hush which had fallen over them, sounding monumentally awkward. Orville realized that this was the first time he and Jaune were alone and didn't have anything important to say to one another. "You and Yang, huh?"

Orville almost laughed at how gauche his normally confident associate sounded. "What about me and Yang?" he tried to sound clueless, just to needle the professor further.

"Well, it seemed like you two are...pretty close?" Jaune half asked.

"Friends generally are," Orville responded, fighting a smirk. When Jaune floundered again, Orville shook his head and decided to take pity. "That's just how Sunshine is," he said. "She likes to push the boundaries and see where everyone's limits are. Back when we first met, I think she was just trying to rile me up, but it sorta became a kind of game between us to heckle the others. Especially Edelweiss."

"So you two aren't...?" he trailed off.

This time, Orville did laugh. "You know, Sun asked the same question about me and Sugar Britches. Yang's my friend. Maybe my best friend?" He paused to think about that. He certainly enjoyed spending time with her more than the others (though he probably wouldn't admit that to Nora), and the only person he hung around more was his partner. "It's hard to tell. I'm still working out how this whole companionship thing works; before all this my best friend was a thief with an overly-developed sense of theatrics."

Jaune hummed thoughtfully, looking down at the cluster of tents below them. "They're a good group of people," he finally said, an odd note of nostalgia coloring his tone. "Maybe if circumstances had been different I'd have been a part of it, too."

Orville let out an amused breath through his nose. "And what do you call hanging out with us on the edge of the Grimmlands, Arc...Jaune? Whether you want it or not, you're part of Team Fuck Cinder." There was that odd, vaguely surprised expression again. It was as though Jaune was expecting something just similar enough to not be completely shocked but still didn't completely comprehend the situation.

"I hope that team name is figurative," Jaune managed to smile a little, and Orville gave him a half-serious shrug.

"I dunno, given the opportunity..." he let the comment hang for a moment before the pair chuckled and fell into a more companionable quietude.

Eventually, Jaune spoke up again, sounding far less awkward than before. "So, what's the point of this journey, anyway?" he asked. "Ozpin just told me that he wanted me to keep an eye on RWBY and ORNP out here."

"I need to stock up on Dust," Orville explained. "I ran through a lot of what I've got experimenting with Edelweiss, and I'm nearly out of Pyrite thanks to that stupid Nevermore Pyrrha and I took out during the Initiation."

"I always thought your Dust was just mixes," Jaune admitted. "Those are all natural variants?"

"Every one of 'em," Orville affirmed, patting the utility belt fondly. "Most of these I found completely by accident, but I'm the only one who knows where all but one of them can be found."

"You know, you're awfully lucky," the blonde noted lightly. "A great team, excellent friends, exclusive rights on primo Dust, even an incredibly versatile Semblance to make full use of it."

Orville felt his good mood vanish. "Luck cuts both ways," he muttered bitterly. "Let's just keep a look-out for Grimm before my luck decides to curdle again."

Jaune seemed to realize that he'd made an error from the sorrowful expression he made. "Orville, I'm sorry..." he began contritely, but Orville made a sharp gesture with his hand.

"Stop apologizing and put your eyes to the ground, Arc."

After a moment, the professor complied, putting the binoculars back to his eyes. Orville did the same, but his mind was only half on the task. He didn't particularly believe in the forces of Fate and Destiny, but he knew that tempting them was never a good idea. Sometimes, he felt as if existence itself was just toying with him, using him as a plaything for the simple pleasure of putting him through hell, and Jaune's comments about how lucky he was sounded a little too much like an offer to the universe to shit all over him.

Orville hoped that it wasn't listening, but life had impressed upon him again and again that hope was just another four-letter word.

* * *

 **After-Action Report:** This, as you might have noticed, could be considered filler, but I like to think of it as a bit of a breather before we get to the main meat of the Grimmland trip. It's gonna get pretty intense, so I decided to give the characters these little moments of peace. It's also lots of nice character interaction, and a look into Jaune's personality. He's still a bit of a dweeb, but it's been tempered through flame.

Speaking of Jaune, his whole deal is going to be revealed either next chapter or the one after, and things will begin to make more sense. Maybe. Hopefully.

We finally get to see how Orville knows Winter, the poor bastard, and he melts Weiss' icy shell a little more. Weiss is a great character, probably one of the most emotionally mature member of Team RWBY despite how... _difficult_ she might be sometimes. She certainly knows when to suck it up and admit she was wrong, which is more than can be said for Blake. Despite that, though, it'll still take a while before she and Orville can be considered actual friends instead of just friends-of-friends.

Also, Taiyang shows up to give Orville a Papa Wolf speech. Before the finale, I had been greatly anticipating his first appearance besides that glimpse we see at the start of volume three and I was let down hard at the end. He barely has any screen time, and Qrow steals a great moment from him that could have been an awesome father-daughter scene between him and Ruby. So since I couldn't get much of a read on him, I decided to turn Taiyang into someone like Maes Hughes from _Fullmetal Alchemist_ and Isshin Kurosaki from _Bleach_. Both are supremely goofy and thoroughly over-the-top, but they will fuck you up if their kids are in danger, and that's the sort of person Taiyang will be, at least in this story. He'll also have a bit of a hesitant streak as befitting of his "Cowardly Lion" allusions, but that won't be for a while yet.

Any questions or comments can be submitted through reviews or PM (I honestly don't care which), favorites and follows are much appreciated, and I thank everyone who has already done so from the bottom of my heart. See you next time, and have a great day!


	10. On the Road Again

**Author's Note:** Okay, so that was a little more than a month...at least it's updated on Thursday, right? Anyway, I've been trying my best to iron out all the details regarding the Grimmland Arc of this story, and I've pretty much got it all set. I was planning on just putting it all in a single chapter, but as you can see it got away from me. The next update shouldn't be too far away, but it'll likely be shorter than this one.

Incredibly, with this update, I will have a story on FF.N which officially places me at the ten-chapter mark. If you don't know my writing well, this is an _AMAZING_ accomplishment, since I normally lose patience/inspiration by around the third chapter, if that.

 **Disclaimer** and **Warning** still apply from the first chapter.

* * *

Chapter 10: On the Road Again

* * *

Orville jerked awake at the sound of a high-pitched scream. He dropped the rock tent he slept in like lightning and ran to the tent from which the sound had originated. It wasn't hard to deduce where it had come from, given that the tent in question was shaking, and the fabric would bulge worryingly every now and then as the occupants tried to escape.

He hastily unzipped the entrance, allowing Sun and Ren to tumble out. The Faunus had a frantic gleam in his eyes as he scrambled away as quickly as he could while Ren struggled to his feet, face haggard.

"What the hell happened?" Orville wondered, even as the others came to see what the commotion was about.

Ren shot Sun a glare as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "See for yourself," the tired martial artist growled, looking a thousand percent done with his tent buddy. Orville ducked his head beneath the flap and caught sight of the source of Sun's distress, then blinked several times to make sure he wasn't mistaken. His hand darted out, capturing the offender, and held it up for everyone to see.

"Sun," he said slowly, turning to his blonde friend. "Is all this because you're afraid of a little rat?" The monkey Faunus flinched back from the small rodent, causing Yang to smirk widely. Weiss stared down her nose disdainfully at the creature, while Ruby and Nora cooed over how cute it was.

"Look, I've got a thing about rats, okay?" Sun mumbled defensively. "Their beady little eyes just...I don't trust 'em, alright?"

Orville sighed, but nodded. Phobias weren't exactly rational, after all, and he was terrified of thunder himself so it wasn't like he could talk. "Next time make sure your tent is sealed properly at all times, or you might find more of this little guy's friends cuddling up with you again."

Sun shuddered violently. "Noted."

Shaking his head, Orville walked over to the ring wall, opened a little mouse hole and let the intruder scurry away. "Well, since we're all up, we might as well get a jump on things," he announced, and everyone began the process of breaking camp while Ren cooked breakfast.

It took roughly an hour for them to finish the meal and pack everything away. When they were done, Orville collapsed his wall and began leading them south.

"So how will we be crossing this chasm?" Pyrrha asked as she walked up alongside him.

"The Link Bridge," Orville said. "It's a few miles from here, and the last bit of civilization we'll be seeing for a few days."

Pyrrha frowned thoughtfully. "I didn't know there were settlements in the actual Grimmlands," she said curiously. "There aren't any in the Mistral Wilderness...I suppose things are different here on Vytal."

"Yeah, well," Orville shrugged. "Us Vytalites are hardy and stubborn, which is either a great combination or a terrible one, depending on who you're asking. The people who live out here are mostly descendants of deposed kings or groups who opposed the royalty and were banished long ago."

"That's awful," she said, looking across the rift.

"That's life," he replied simply. "They've adapted pretty well, in my opinion. We should just be thankful they're there at all, otherwise there wouldn't be a safe place for us to rest every once in a while." He hesitated, then added, "There are also a few frontier colonies sponsored by Vale and Vacuo, too, but those are almost always within a few days' ride of The Bridges."

They crested a hill, and Pyrrha gasped in astonishment at the sight before her. Orville couldn't blame her, really; the first time he'd seen the Link Bridge it had rendered him speechless. As the others drew up behind them, the quiet chatter fell away as they took in the view.

"Holy shit," Sun breathed.

"You said it," Yang agreed in an uncharacteristically subdued tone. The others were likewise awed by the massive feat of architecture and human ingenuity.

Calling it a bridge was somewhat misleading. When one hears the name, they might think of something perhaps large enough to allow four cars to travel side-by-side. The Link Bridge was a marvel of engineering and design, built by an ancient kingdom long forgotten to time and fortified by dozens that followed, including Vale itself. Two massive fortresses stood sentinel on either side of the Dark Divide, each boasting a gate strong enough that any Grimm horde would batter itself bloody against it and a Cross-Continental Transmitter soaring high above. The bridge itself was a mile wide, and hosted buildings all across it where its inhabitants lived and worked, all to maintain one of the seven entrances into the Vytal Grimmlands.

Below the massive length of stone (and steel and duracrete and countless other building materials of varying age), several smaller bridges spanned the canyon, leading to various ledges hewn from the rock face beneath the shadows of either of the twin citadels where Orville knew most of the foodstuffs grew and the specially-bred domesticated elk were kept. All of the Bridges across the Dark Divide were almost completely self-sufficient, earned through the trial and error of nearly a thousand years of hardship.

Collectively, the Bridges could be considered a kingdom in their own right both politically and economically, but chose instead to allow Vale to hold governance over them for simplicity's sake. As close to the Grimmlands as they were, the Bridges' only concern as far as politics went was whether or not they would be rendered assistance should the worst come to pass, and being beholden to Vale most definitely provided that.

"Come on," prompted Orville, nudging Pyrrha to kick-start her brain. "We still gotta get through the gate. It'll take some sweet talking, maybe a couple bribes here or there, but we'll be on the other side in no time."

"Or I could just show them my Hunter credentials," Jaune offered helpfully. "I can tell them that we're on a training mission, which isn't _that_ far from the truth anyway."

Orville stopped short as he turned to the professor, then grinned. "Or we could do that," he relented. "Looks like you're useful after all, Teach."

"Gee, thanks," the Huntsman muttered sarcastically. "I feel _so_ appreciated."

"He's just joking, Professor," Pyrrha said apologetically, jabbing Orville in the ribs subtly. "We value your presence here with us, right Orville?" She smiled menacingly at her partner, and Orville felt a bit of sweat beading on his forehead. He might be able to beat her every once in a while, but he had a healthy (and completely justified) fear of his partner's wrath.

"Sure, sure," Orville nodded vigorously. "You know me. Orville the joker." He chuckled nervously until the edge of danger left Pyrrha's expression. "Alright, let's get to it then."

With Jaune's papers and license, it was a simple task to get through the Vale-side portal. They stopped at an inn for a quick lunch before heading toward the other side.

The guards on the far side of the Link were a bit more suspicious, but they were all given passes, allowing Orville and Jaune to lead the others to the stables within. The Vytal red elk had been bred on the Bridges for close to five hundred years, with evidence of their domestication in the Grimmlands going back even further. Each Bridge's stock had slightly different characteristics, but with the close ties the Bridges shared the elk's traits were more or less evenly intermingled. They were known mostly for their more powerful frame, sure footing, and sheer endurance. It was said that a Vytal Red could run for three days and nights without tiring, though no one in living memory had ever been insane enough to try testing that legend.

When they reached the stables, Orville quickly spotted a familiar mane of russet hair standing behind one of the rental booths and made his way over. "Mal!" he called out in greeting. Blue eyes darted to his, and a wide smile appeared on the pixie-like face of the stable-hand.

Malon was the daughter of one of the most well-known and respected elk breeders on the Link, and had once been a wild filly who would take unsanctioned trips out into the Grimmlands on a regular basis until the incident had occurred. Her own elk had been taken down by a pack of wild dogs about a dozen miles from the Link, and she'd been beset by Ursai when she attempted to return on foot. Thankfully, Orville had just left the Link on one of his runs, and he easily dispatched her pursuers before taking her back to the safety of the Bridge.

"Orville!" she shouted, waving him over and hugging him around the neck when he got within grabbing distance. "How are you? I haven't seen you in _months_!"

"Yeah, I kinda got signed up for Hunter school," he replied with a shrug. "Takes up way more time than I'm comfortable with, but what can ya do?" He turned to the group, who were looking between him and Malon curiously. "Guys, this is Malon. Mal, this is, from left to right, Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Ren, Nora, Sun, Blake, Jaune, and Pyrrha. They're friends I made at the academy."

"You've got _friends_?" Malon asked in faux-amazement. "Did you save their lives, too, or did you have to bribe them? I mean, what other reason is there to be associated with you?"

"Har-har," he rolled his eyes at her sarcastic remark. "I'll have you know that I'm a very personable guy when I wanna be. Anyway, we need some mounts..."

"And you want me to hook it up," she finished, sounding unsurprised. "Daddy would never let me hear the end of it if I didn't give you the family discount, and since you're gonna need nine elk I can add the group discount as well."

"What about the really-really-ridiculously-good-looking discount?" Orville suggested. "I qualify for that, don't I?"

"No, but your blonde friends certainly do," Malon smirked, glancing back to Jaune and Sun appreciatively (especially Sun, whose shirt was predictably unbuttoned). "Tall, dark, and handsome, too," she added, jerking her chin toward Ren, who flushed in embarrassment, "but not you. I _will_ give you the hit-every-branch-on-the way-down-the-ugly-tree discount, though. How long are you planning on being out there?"

"I'd say between two and three weeks," Orville said. "I'm making my usual circuit, but these losers are definitely gonna slow me down some."

Malon ignored Weiss' indignant protest, quickly tallying up some figures on the desktop tome in front of her. "We'll say three weeks to be safe," she suggested. "With insurance and deposit, you're looking at three thousand lien for the lot." Expecting about as much, Orville pulled out his credit card and handed it over, allowing Malon to complete the transaction before pulling out a 'closed' sign and hanging it over her booth. "Alright, follow me and I'll take you to your mounts."

Malon led them down one of the many long rows of stables within the fortress where her father's rental animals were kept and began to process of matching elk to rider and saddling them up. It took about half an hour, but finally, after Jaune was handed the reigns of a massive pale-furred bull named Grani, Malon headed farther back, where Malon's family's personal elk were and returned with a light brown bull with pale belly fur who whickered excitedly upon spotting Orville.

"How's it going, old buddy?" Orville asked, offering up a carrot he'd happened across a few minutes prior. He reached up and ran his hand across the handsome creature's cheek, smiling as his ash-grey eyes fluttered briefly.

"He missed you," Malon commented softly, grinning.

"I've always said Yakul has good taste," he quipped in return. "Everything all set?"

"You're good to go," confirmed the stable hand with a short nod. She followed the group back out to the main thoroughfare that led to the gate and embraced Orville tightly. "Be careful out there, Pup."

"When am I ever not?" he asked, and when Malon opened her mouth, he pinched her lips together. "Don't answer that. Give Talon my best, and tell Romani I'll bring something back for her."

The group mounted up (Orville thanked his lucky stars that all of them knew at least the basics of horsemanship, which was similar enough to riding elk), and headed off to the entrance to the Grimmlands.

The great fortress loomed above them as they approached the far side of the Link Bridge, where a massive arch held the great gate. Inscribed along the archway was a sinister warning that Orville had taken to heart the first time he'd passed through.

"What the heck does that say?" Nora asked, her face a mask of confusion as she tried to puzzle out the odd pronunciation.

" _Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate_ ," Orville recited from memory. "'Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.' The guys who built this had a flair for the dramatic, if you hadn't noticed already." Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Pyrrha and Weiss trading uneasy glances while Ren swept a cautious gaze over the words. Even Nora had gained a slightly hesitant look at his explanation.

"Well that isn't ominous at all," Yang piped up cheerfully. "So is there a locker somewhere around here that we can dump our hope into for safe-keeping?"

Orville cracked a smile; trust Yang to banish the apprehensive atmosphere which had settled over their group. "I think there might be some storage space over that way, but the rent is ludicrous."

"Ah, well," the brawler shrugged as if it couldn't be helped. "Guess we'll just have to keep it on us, right?" She shoved Jaune from behind. "Let's go, Prof. You're the one with the special papers, now get us through!"

* * *

"Shake 'n Bake, Peej!" Orville shouted, thrusting out with the Dynamic Duo and his soul. The ground bucked and quaked at his prompting, sending half a dozen Beowolves into the air while he slashed two of the closest in half. Ren took advantage of the others' momentary helplessness and cut them to pieces with Stormflower's blades, which were coated in razor-sharp shells of pale pink Aura. "Champ, Blitz, give us a Hot Shot!"

From atop the stone tower he'd lifted earlier, Magnhild roared and Miló barked. Several feet away a cluster of fifteen lupine Grimm disappeared in an explosion of ruddy smoke created by a special Fire Opal grenade being struck by the Pyrite infused bullet Pyrrha had fired. A gust of wind blew away the smoke, revealing a large crater and little else.

Seeing the immediate threats neutralized, Orville glanced over to where Team RWBY were handling the other half of the Grimm horde they'd found attacking a Vacuan caravan As he watched, Yang skated by on a slab of ice while holding onto Gambol Shroud, allowing Blake to slingshot her partner by the elastic ribbon straight toward the Alpha Beowolf in charge of the pack at blistering speed. The blonde brawler slammed a massive hay-maker straight _through_ the Alpha's snout, collapsing its skull and sending it flying back amidst a spray of smoky gore.

"Do Alphas count for double?" Ruby called while she twirled about nearby, cleaving a Beowolf in half at the waist.

"I guess," Orville shrugged, dodging a vicious black paw as it swung at his head. He reversed Selenite before stabbing back and shredding the claw's owner with two barrels full of grimmshot, letting the recoil spin the shotsword back around so he could decapitate another Beowolf. "But that means the Major we took down was worth four." Ruby gave him a petulant glare as she passed, but didn't argue the point.

From the corner of his eye Orville watched as Sun and Jaune fended off the Grimm who were attempting to bypass the protective ring of Hunters and head straight for the more vulnerable prey. Sun was pretty damn good with his weapons, but Jaune was like a one-man curtain wall, always moving and keeping a constant barrier between the attacking monsters and the nomads.

Orville swept his gaze across the impromptu battlefield and allowed himself to relax. Withh RWBY and ORNP working together while Jaune and Sun pulled guard duty, the Grimm had been all but decimated. Of the hundred or so Beowolves, Ursai, and the odd Creeper or three, only a few dozen Beowolves could be seen slinking off to lick their wounds and regroup. Watching as Pyrrha, Nora, and Ruby picked off a few of the retreating wolfish Grimm, Orville could very nearly feel sorry for the poor saps who had believed themselves worthy of taking on the two best teams Beacon had to offer (though he _may_ be a bit biased in that assessment).

When the last Beowolf disappeared beyond a cluster of rolling hills in the distance, the two teams fell back to the defensive wall the nomads had pieced together and Orville had reinforced upon their arrival. The caravan itself was a motley collection of luridly-colored trailer trucks and RVs so ancient their hover pads were barely topping off at half a meter above the ground. The defensive cannons mounted on the tops of the vehicles were likewise outdated, probably dating back to the Color War if the primitive Dust magazines were anything to go by.

The leader of the convoy, a graying ram Faunus with bar-shaped pupils and the most impressive goatee Orville had ever seen, leapt over the barricade with more vigor than one would expect from a man his age.

He reached forward and grabbed Ren's hand with both of his, shaking it firmly before moving onto the others one by one. "Thank you all," he kept babbling over and over. "Thank you so very much!"

"No problem, man," Orville assured, patting him on the shoulder. "What kind of people would we be if we'd just left you guys with a bunch of Grimm on your asses?"

"Plus, we're Hunters," Ruby added, beaming. "Helping people is what we do best!"

"Nevertheless," the ram said, "I insist on rewarding you somehow. Is there anything you young folks need?"

"Well, _someone_ forgot to bring my spices," Ren noted, shooting a dirty look at Orville. "Would you happen to have any oregano and ground red pepper to spare?"

"I can't be bothered to think of _everything_ , Peej," Orville retorted stubbornly. "Sunshine brought along her stuff without being prompted, I just assumed you would have brought yours, too."

"When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me," his only male teammate sniped back sullenly.

"I'm pretty sure we have more than enough of both," the caravan leader interjected before Orville could respond. "I'll just go grab some..." With that said, he bolted back to his RV and away from what must have looked like some pretty insane teenagers.

"Look, we'll be coming up on Gilded Lake in a few hours," Orville tried to placate Ren, who had been in a fuss since he'd realized that the only thing he had to season their meals with was salt and black pepper at dinner the previous night. "I'm sure they've got some exotic Grimmland spices, and I'll buy all the oregano and red pepper you could ask for."

"And saffron?" Ren prompted hopefully.

"And saffron," Orville agreed, rolling his eyes.

In short order, Goatee Guy returned with a couple containers that Ren gratefully accepted before turning to Jaune, who must have told the travelers that he was in charge. "Is there anything else we can do for you?"

"Be safe," Jaune replied simply. "The Link Bridge is only a hundred miles or so off, you should be able to make it by tomorrow afternoon with your vehicles."

"Bless you," Goatee murmured, nodding respectfully to them before ordering the makeshift barrier broken down and packed away. Orville pushed his own contribution to the wall back into the ground, and with one last wave and a wish for good luck, the caravan was back on its way, leaving the group to mount their rental elk and continue in the opposite direction.

"So what was your count?" Orville asked as he drew level with Ruby.

"We got forty-six!" his fellow leader boasted, shooting a proud look at her team. "Plus, we managed to pull off that super-cool combo attack on the Alpha we've been working on."

Orville nodded, impressed. "Nice work," he complimented. "Too bad ORNP beat you guys by ten."

" _What_?" Ruby exclaimed. "But Team RWBY kicked _so_ much butt! How did you guys manage to beat us?"

"The Grimm were no match for our excellent coordination," Pyrrha said idly from Orville's other side. "Don't forget that we've been working on teamwork a little longer than you have."

"Not to mention we've got the greatest, most glorious leader of all time!" Nora added from her position behind them.

"Them's fightin' words, Miss Nora," Yang grunted, spitting out a wad of bubblegum. She'd been quite taken with the whole Wild Wilderness aspect of the journey after she had learned they would be riding elk for most of the trip, and had even brought some shotgun chaps and a wide-brimmed cowboy hat for use on the road, such as it was. "Mah li'l sister's the rootin'est, tootin'est leader in all o' Remnant."

"Our kill count begs to differ," Ren pointed out in an off-hand tone that Orville had taught him specifically in order to rile Weiss up.

True to form, the Atlesian girl with a fetish for white clothing glared at Ren. "There's absolutely _no_ way that sorry excuse for a mongrel is anywhere _close_ to the leader Ruby is."

"Aw, Weiss you _do_ care!" Ruby squealed, eyes sparkling with unshed tears of joy.

"Don't read too much into this," Weiss snapped, but Orville could see the smile trying to fight its way onto her face.

While the two teams bantered good-naturedly with input from Sun and (more rarely) Jaune, Orville and Yakul led the group through the rolling terrain at a slow, steady trot. Most of the Grimm in the area didn't bother them, and the few that did were taken out by Pyrrha or Ruby from a safe distance. They stopped every once in a while to inspect something more closely or for a quick pit stop to fuel up and empty out, and Orville finally managed to convince Yang that the rocks didn't resemble lipstick even remotely beyond the basic shape.

Eventually, as the sun began to flirt with the mountainous horizon in the west, they arrived at their first destination. Orville grinned at how excellent his timing was, and allowed nature to explain to his friends why Gilded Lake was named thus. The dying sunlight reflected off the wide oxbow, turning it into a hook of beaten gold upon the land as it curved around the lonely Thunder Mountain, which glittered in the sunset like it was aflame. Just beyond it, Oakenshield River flowed west toward a forest older than most of the ruins in the Grimmlands.

In the shadow of the gleaming mountain and within the protective bend of the lake stood a settlement too large to be called a town, but not quite enough for the title of city. The seven tallest buildings were six stories high and had been carved straight from the sheer stone wall of Thunder Mountain's eastern face, and each row of structures beyond them were set in a neat grid using them as a guide. The buildings closest to the shores of Gilded Lake were short, squat huts, and everything in between those and the six-floor buildings got progressively higher the further back they went. Down the center of the lake was a pontoon bridge which connected the city to the Grimmlands beyond their natural moat.

"Let's get going," he said, urging Yakul into a canter. "They disassemble the bridge when the sun goes down."

After he awoke and performed his morning ablutions, Orville left the room he and the other three males had shared and headed to the common room for some breakfast, deciding to allow Ren (and by extension Sun and Jaune) a little more sleep. As the first of his regular stops on his circuit, Orville knew Gilded Lake's inns and lodges well enough to pick out the one with the best accomodation and (more importantly) food.

He paused at the common room's entrance and scanned the occupants. At such an early hour, the place was mostly empty except for a few bleary-eyed merchants getting in a quick bite before heading out. Orville didn't expect to see Pyrrha sitting by herself in a corner, idly spooning up some porridge as she stared into the hearth fire. He waved down one of the waiters and ordered some bacon and eggs, then went to go sit with his partner. Pyrrha must have been deep in thought because she didn't seem to notice as he slid into the seat across from her until he poked at the little crease between her eyebrows.

She blinked those emerald eyes of hers several times before her gaze focused on him. "Oh, good morning," she said, offering him an embarrassed smile. "When did you get here?"

"I just sat down," he chuckled. "Thinkin' about something important?"

Pyrrha shook her head, replying, "Not particularly. I didn't get much sleep last night; I must have zoned out for a while."

Orville leaned back in his seat, shrugging easily. "Happens to the best of us, Champ," he assured her. "So does Yang snore, or were the beds too lumpy?" He'd noticed early on in the school year that one of the RWBY girls snored loudly, and the most likely culprit was his blonde friend.

"Actually, it was Weiss' snores that kept me awake," Pyrrha corrected, laughing lightly. Orville's eyebrows rose in surprise; it was difficult for him to connect the deep bass rumbles he'd heard with the diminutive, almost doll-like Schnee, but he didn't think Pyrrha would lie about something as innocuous as that. "The rest of her team must have gotten used to it already, and Nora can sleep through just about anything, so I was the only one who seems to have suffered."

"Tough luck," Orville sympathized. "We can pick up some ear plugs on the way out, if you want."

"I wouldn't say no to that," Pyrrha admitted with a sheepish smile. It never ceased to amaze Orville that the girl whose fierce reputation as one of the greatest fighters in the world could be so kind and empathetic toward even Weiss who, while not a total bitch, could be mistaken for one on occasion.

They were interrupted by the waiter setting down Orville's breakfast in front of him, pouring a cup of strong coffee into the empty mug already on the table. "Thanks," Orville nodded to the server distractedly before turning back to Pyrrha. "So, after this do you wanna come with me to get the Pyrite?"

Pyrrha's smile widened slightly as she bobbed her head. "That sounds fun," she acknowledged. "But I thought no one else knew where your Dust was? Wouldn't such a valuable resource have been discovered so close to a settlement like Gilded Lake?"

Orville grinned. "Everyone can look, Champ, but not everyone can _see_ , y'know?"

Frowning at his enigmatic statement, the Mistrali girl eloquently replied, "Er...what?"

Chuckling, he answered, "You'll see," before tucking into his food. After a moment of watching him curiously, Pyrrha shrugged and resumed eating her own breakfast. Despite having begun before him and having much less in her bowl, the two partners finished at the same time, and once he drained his cup of coffee, Orville stood and gestured for her to follow.

They stepped into the early morning light, and Orville pointed up at the mountain, which shone in the sun like a beacon. "Look and see," he urged. Pyrrha followed his finger and stared at the bright stones, her eyes sharp as they bounced around the eastern face of the summit. After about a minute, she turned her gaze back to him in confusion.

"I don't understand," she finally admitted, shamefaced.

Orville offered her a supportive smile. "Don't worry if you don't get it at first," he said encouragingly. "I didn't really figure it out until I'd been here a dozen times, and Gilded Lake's citizens _live_ here and still don't know."

He led her to the inn's stables and they mounted up, Orville on Yakul and Pyrrha on the roan cow named Pedasos that Mal had paired her with. They crossed the floating bridge and sketched a lazy curve around the outer shore of the lake to the other side of Thunder Mountain, where Orville guided them up what he generously called a trail. Yakul and Pedasos had no trouble navigating the treacherous footing which would have stymied a Valean horse half a meter up, and they eventually found themselves on a bluff that overlooked Gilded Lake several dozen meters above the high buildings.

Orville watched from the corner of his eye as wonder stole across Pyrrha's face when she beheld the incredible sight below them. He allowed her a few moments to drink in the tableau before clearing his throat.

She directed her attention back to him, and he wordlessly ran his palm along the stone of the mountain beside him, reaching with his Semblance as he did so. Wherever his fingers passed, the rock seemed to lose its luster, and when he drew away and held out his hand, there was a coin-sized chunk of Pyrite glittering innocently between his thumb and forefinger.

Pyrrha gasped as understanding dawned on her face. "The Pyrite is what makes Thunder Mountain shimmer like it does!" she realized, turning once more to the stone.

"Yep," Orville confirmed. "This place gets its name for the frequency of lightning strikes on and around the mountain. Pyrite generates electricity when you flow Aura through it, but it attracts and absorbs electric currents without any prompting. It's the only metallic Dust I've ever heard of, and I like to think of myself as a bit of an expert on the subject."

Pyrrha rolled her eyes, smiling nevertheless. "It must be destiny that you and I should be partners, then, isn't it?" she mused as she caressed the mountain absent-mindedly. "That I, one of the very few Hunters ever recorded having a Semblance which affects metals, would encounter you, the person who discovered the one type of Dust I can manipulate without a Dust mage's training."

Orville was about to needle her about her talk of destiny when she lifted her hand away from the rock and presented him with a piece of Pyrite glimmering on her palm. "I've said it before," he commented. "We make a helluva team, you and I. Let's gather as much as we can before the others wake up and start blowing up our scrolls."

As it turned out, the rest of their adventuring party didn't wake up until the sun was high overhead and Team OP had collected quite a bit of Pyrite. Orville was in the process of compressing the large pile of golden Dust into a more manageable size when his scroll began to ring.

He checked the caller's name before flipping it open and answering. "Timid Tilly's Taxidermy, where you snuff 'em and we stuff 'em! How can we be of service today?"

Yang rolled her eyes at the odd greeting. "The horticulturist one was better," she deadpanned. "Where are you?"

Orville aimed the scroll's camera at the pile with Pyrrha in the background, who waved self-consciously. "We're getting the Dust. Y'know, the whole reason I wanted to come on this trip in the first place?"

"And here I thought it was so you could ravish all us impressionable girls in the wilderness," she shot back, grinning. "There goes my fantasy out the window."

"Put a pin in that one and we'll get back to it later," he snickered. "Anyway, we're almost done up here. We should be back in an hour or so."

"Don't leave a girl waiting too long, now," Yang pushed out her bottom lip, and Orville suddenly understood where Ruby got her devastating pout from.

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled uncomfortably. "See you in a bit."

He cut the line and turned back to Pyrrha. "She's gonna be the death of me, I swear," he grunted, settling into a wide stance and let his Aura settle over the Pyrite before squeezing with his will. Compressing the Dust was a process Orville and Gin had spent close to three years perfecting, and was slow and arduous when done properly. When performed incorrectly, the Dust had a worrying tendency to explode at the slightest provocation (Orville had gone through no less than twenty utility belts before they'd gotten it down-pat).

As the sounds of grinding stone began to fill the air, Pyrrha sat down on the chair he'd made for her earlier and settled in with her own scroll. Orville screwed up his face in concentration as he steadily removed the empty space between the Dust particles and formed it into a cuboid, but movement in his peripheral vision kept distracting him. It turned out to be Pyrrha's leg jangling as she fiddled with her scroll, and he tried his best to push it out of his mind, but something was off about the picture. Pyrrha was usually the picture of rigid discipline, able to sit perfectly still and be completely comfortable doing so. This fidgeting was uncharacteristic and frankly off-putting.

Eventually, he couldn't stand it, and straightened from his half-crouched position. Pyrrha looked up, raising a questioning eyebrow. "Something wrong?" she asked, getting up from her seat and reaching for Miló.

"Nothing dangerous," he replied with a calming gesture. "You were distracting me."

Pyrrha furrowed her brow even as a pink flush crept up her neck. "What do you mean?"

"You were wriggling around so much that I figured something was up," he explained.

"Was I?" she sounded mystified. "I hadn't even noticed, I'm sorry."

He waved off the apology. "No harm done, but what's got you all jittery?"

"It's nothing," she denied, but her slowly reddening face made him think otherwise.

"Sure about that?" he queried skeptically.

"I—that is to say..." she floundered for a moment before seeming to come to a decision. She went from flustered to determined in the time it took Orville to blink. "I wanted to ask: are you and Yang together?"

Orville blinked rapidly at the question. First Jaune and now Pyrrha? "Uh, no," he answered honestly. "We're friends. I'm pretty sure she's my best friend, though I'm still trying to work that one out." Pyrrha's expression morphed into combination of relief and trepidation, then horror when he asked, "Why?"

"N-no reason," she stammered, flapping her hands in front of her as if to stave off the inquiry. "I was just curious. The way you two act, you can see my confusion..."

Sighing, Orville nodded. Really, he would have had to be a total idiot not to see that Pyrrha harbored some sort of feelings for him that went beyond mere partnership, but he hadn't the slightest clue how to deal with it. Well, he knew a few ways to exacerbate the situation very pleasurably, but that wasn't what he wanted.

"I'm not actually looking for something like that," he said after a while. "I've had...let's call it 'bad' experiences with intimate relationships and leave it at that."

He could see how much Pyrrha wanted to ask about those bad experiences (and wasn't _that_ the understatement of the century?), and he was grateful that she curbed her curiosity and simply nodded, trying her best to hide the disappointment in her eyes. He felt terrible about that; Pyrrha was a sweetheart, one of the nicest people he knew in fact. But it was better that he didn't entangle her even further into the shitstorm he fondly called his life.

"It must have been pretty bad," she finally commented lightly.

Orville huffed in sardonic amusement. "Enough that I pretty much swore off women for the foreseeable future," he agreed.

" _Oh_." Something in Pyrrha's voice made him give her a bewildered look. "I didn't know you were...ah...like _that_." She heaved a massive sigh. "Why are all the good ones gay?" she muttered to herself.

"I-I'm not _gay_!" he sputtered, feeling his face heat up. "Not that that's a bad thing, but I'm _not_ gay. I _meant_ that—" He cut himself off when he realized that Pyrrha was stifling her laughter behind her hand and sent her a sullen glare. "Har-har, Champ. You're a friggin' riot."

Apparently, his face was so amusing to her that she couldn't hold in her merriment anymore. Her belly-busting laughter echoed through Thunder Mountain's crags, and Orville petulantly resumed compressing the Pyrite while he grumbled to himself about Yang corrupting his sweet partner.

"You're not exactly the greatest influence either, you know," Pyrrha pointed out, watching as the heap of Dust shrank steadily.

"That's the good thing about you and I," Orville said. "We even each other out. I've been better behaved these past few months than I have since I was eight thanks to you."

"If that was you being well-behaved I'd hate to see what you were like before," she muttered.

"My dear, you've no idea," he smirked in response, reliving the vague details he could recall about the incident which had gotten him banned from Vacuo's Casino District for life.

Eventually, the massive mound of Pyrite they had harvested from the stone had been squeezed down into a perfectly symmetrical block that fit snugly into a special pocket in Orville's bag, and they made it back to Gilded Lake well before sunset.

They even had time to pick up some ear plugs for Pyrrha.

* * *

On the sixth day after Thunder Mountain disappeared behind them, the group found themselves looking down at the ruins of a town which had once been called Littleroot. It was a disheartening sight, especially the gap in the ring wall which looked otherwise strong and sturdy. The settlement was much smaller than the one at Gilded Lake, but that by no means undercut the sense of tragedy that clung to it.

"What do you think happened here?" Ruby asked quietly, her silvery eyes shuttered and dim.

"Same thing that always happens in places like this," Ren replied with a surprising amount of bitterness in his voice. "Grimm."

"I don't think it was just Grimm that did this town in," said Jaune, frowning. He pointed at the breach in the wall, where dark scorch marks scored the half-melted stone. "That looks like the work of Burn Dust to me."

"What kind of asshole would do something so screwed up?" Yang snarled through gritted teeth. Her leather half-gloves creaked in protest as her hands clenched tightly at the villainy.

"Maybe they didn't have their Dust supplies stored properly," Weiss suggested half-heartedly.

Orville let the speculation wash over him without really hearing it. The decrepit old town dredged up some incredibly unpleasant memories that would have been better off buried in the sewage of his subconscious. Just looking at the ruptured wall made him feel weak and worthless.

"No use wondering now," he managed to say after a while, wheeling Yakul around and nudging him into a steady lope. "Let's get going."

Something in his tone must have alerted the others to his foul mood because every so often he would feel eyes on his back, but he ignored them in favor of getting them to their next destination in a timely fashion.

They'd passed through Sanguine Gorge a day prior where they'd picked up some Sunstone, and Drowsy Dale three days before that in order to gather the Tiger's Eye. They were only a week in and yet they were already almost halfway through with Orville's usual Dust run. Granted, he could have been just about done by now had he been alone, but the company was great, and the team bonding experience was invaluable.

There had yet to be any hiccups in the plan, which was starting to grate on Orville's nerves something fierce. Usually, he'd have run into a tribe of pygmy shamans attempting to sacrifice him to a statue of their god carved from a massive Dust crystal or a group of insane caravaneers using him as bait in order to figure out how to tame soulless beasts so they could start the world's first Grimm circus (and he wished he could say honestly that he'd never been in either situation), but so far it had been smooth sailing. Almost too smooth...the Grimmlands were always dangerous, ever-ready to snap the unwary up and gobble them whole. For a group of ten people to have gone so long without incident was unheard of, and Orville felt his anticipation grow exponentially with each passing day.

"Lien for your thoughts?" Orville looked over to the side to find Blake ride up next to him, one hand on the reins of her black and white bull, Beauty, while the other idly flicked her scroll's screen as words danced across it.

"I'm a little worried," he confessed _sotto voce_ after glancing back at the others, knowing she'd be able to pick up his words. "Something always goes wrong out here, and the suspense is starting to get to me as to what the hell it's gonna be."

Blake's amber eyes narrowed as she inspected him before she sighed in exasperation. "Did you ever stop to think that maybe you're being a little paranoid?" she asked rhetorically.

"It's crossed my mind," he acknowledged, giving the area a cursory sweep for danger. "In my experience, though, it's better to be paranoid than dead."

"True enough," conceded the cat-girl before changing the subject. "So where's our next stop?"

"The Mountains of the Moon, about three days from here," he answered.

"So that's where your Moonstone is?" Blake inquired sarcastically.

"No, actually," Orville chuckled as she blinked in confusion. "Moonstone comes from the bottom of a lake. The Mountains of the Moon are where I get Fire Opal. We'll have to be quick there, though."

"Why, is it dangerous there?"

Orville shifted uncomfortably in Yakul's saddle. "In a manner of speaking," he hedged, not wanting to open that can of worms ever, if he could help it. "Let's just say it's a lot better if we don' take our time getting the Fire Opal."

Blake pierced him with a shrewd gaze before shrugging. "You're the expert, I suppose," she said with some degree of skepticism. "Speaking of which, I was wondering whether or not you've noticed our tail."

He nodded once, fighting the urge to glance back beyond the group to the forested area they'd left just left. "Since yesterday," he said. "I can't be sure, but I'm thinking it's a LaMOR."

"A...Lay-more?" Blake parroted curiously.

"It stands for 'Last Man on Remnant'," explained Orville. "After a Grimm incursion destroys a settlement, there's always a chance that someone will make it out alive, whether by skill, preparation, or sheer dumb luck. But having suffered through that kind of trauma, sometimes something in their head just... _snaps_ and they decide to stay in the wilderness as some lone-wolf survivalist type."

"And you think this is a LaMOR from what happened at Littleroot?" Blake asked, but Orville shook his head, feeling that helpless feeling from before well up once again.

"Littleroot only had two survivors, and neither of them stuck around afterward," he replied, spitting a wad of phlegm into the bushes off to the side. "It might be a bandit scout checking out whether or not we're worth the effort to rob. We should hurry up a little, shake our guest and get out of this cursed place ASAP."

Blake dipped her head and fell back to inform the others of the change in pace. That left Orville with his own thoughts once more, which inevitably were drawn back to Littleroot. It hadn't been five years ago that the small village had been full of life and on its way to becoming a major stop for the caravans. Everything had been looking up for Littleroot right up until a giant hole had been blown into the side of their wall.

Twenty years before its eventual desolation, Littleroot had been pitched, laid-out, and built as the furthest settlement from its parent kingdom since before the Great War. Backed by Vale, it was situated in the crux of Vytal's two most heavily-trafficked trade routes going east-to-west and north-to-south, and was supposed to help facilitate safer passage. For two decades, it had done just as it been designed to until the explosion and subsequent Grimm attack.

His foul mood hounded him for the rest of the night, even after they'd set up camp and had a little sing-along to keep their spirits up. As he sat in the crow's nest alone (having offered to take his watch by himself), he watched as a small humanoid form made a quick, exploratory loop around the ring wall. He couldn't make out a single thing about them due to the formless cloak-like garment they wore before the figure scrabbled up the sheer face. Despite himself, Orville was impressed; he'd practiced for years on raising walls as difficult to scale as possible, and his camp walls were ten feet high.

Fishing out a Tiger's Eye dart, Orville kept one eye on the intruder while he shucked his jacket, leaving him in only his red woolen long johns and boots. When their back was to him, he leapt from the lookout tower to the wall and sank straight into it, allowing him a more concealed vantage point. The interloper shuffled through the packs before carefully removing a box of granola bars. With a quick look around, the stranger fled back toward the wall, and Orville was close enough now to see that the person's finger- and toe-nails were grown out and filed down to points. They weren't Faunus features (he'd gotten intimately familiar with a leopard Faunus who liked to use her claws in rather _inventive_ ways), but they were obviously strong enough to find purchase in stone judging on how easily the nimble thief scaled the wall.

It was only once they were on the other side of the wall that Orville pounced. Sliding through the stone, he grasped the person's shoulders from behind and _pulled_. Before they could make so much as a squeak of surprise Orville's prey found themselves lodged firmly on the outside of his wall, limbs encased in stone and mouth covered by a rocky band so they couldn't call for help.

"Hi there, neighbor," he offered casually as he stepped out of the wall. "I see you're borrowing a cup of sugar without asking."

The thief snarled beneath the gag, and Orville took a moment to inspect them more fully. Through the wall, Orville could feel that this person was a girl, and based on the burgeoning curves had just taken her first shaky steps into adolescence. Her eyes were green, and bore the telltale reflective pupils of a Faunus. The hair and skin was so dirty and smudged he couldn't quite make out their color in the darkness.

Internally, he grimaced. Feral children were akin to LaMORs, and yet so very different at once. Like their counterparts, ferals were the product of broken villages and Grimm rage, though LaMORs made a choice to stay in the wilds, while ferals had basically no choice. Kids who went feral more than likely spent their entire lives in the Grimmlands, not knowing any other way to live. Most didn't make it past their first year alone.

"Can you understand me?" he asked, not daring to get his hopes up. Her eyes narrowed, but jerked her head down once in the affirmative. He breathed a sigh of relief; there had been documented cases of feral children who had lost their villages before they could properly speak, or could speak but discarded that knowledge as obsolete in favor of skills they could use to survive. At least he could communicate with this one.

"Alright, I'm going to remove the gag," he said, gesturing to the rock covering her mouth just in case. "Don't make a ruckus."

Slowly, he shoved the gag back into the wall and, after a moment of hesitation, pulled her bodily from her stony prison and set her on the ground.

For a moment, she didn't seem to believe what had happened. She looked up at him (she was at least a foot and a half shorter than he was), her eyes wide in confusion. He reached into the wall and withdrew the pilfered box of granola, then held it out for her.

When she merely flicked her gaze between him and the food, he shook it lightly, causing her to jerk back instinctively. "Go on," he said, setting the box down closer to her. "It'd be a shame for all your hard work in getting it to go to waste."

After a moment's hesitation, the girl snatched it from his hands and scurried away into the night. When she was nearly a dozen yards away, she stopped and turned to face him, her eyes shining eerily in the wan moonlight before disappearing into the brush.

Pursing his lips, Orville stepped back through the wall and climbed back up to the lookout. He would have liked to do more for the poor thing, but knew that she wouldn't have taken any assistance lightly. Based on her gait and the way her eyes darted to and fro constantly, he figured that she must have been out here by herself for quite some time. She would have gained a healthy amount of skepticism for things that looked too good to be true, and pushing supplies on her would have just driven her away.

If he was lucky, she'd return the following night; he could ease into getting her to trust him a little. It was almost like trying to make a stray warm up to him, and he'd spent enough time on the streets of Vale to know how to do that properly. When his watch was over, he knocked lightly on the tent Blake and Yang shared, and a moment later the cat Faunus stepped out fully dressed.

Before he tromped over to his spot for some shut-eye, he said, "If you see a little humanoid figure lurking about, don't worry about them. Turns out our guest isn't quite the threat I'd assumed them to be."

She frowned, but nodded her understanding. "Does this mean we might be gaining another traveling companion soon?"

Orville grinned at how easily Blake was able to pick apart the situation to the bare bones. "Just keep your eyes sharp."

"Sleep well."

* * *

Over the next two days, Orville enacted his plan to ingratiate himself to the feral girl who was following their trail, making his walls just a tiny bit easier for her to find handholds in and setting some of his share of food and water out to make it easier for her to 'steal'. Both nights he would watch her enter camp as fluidly as a shadow, and both nights he would wait for her on the other side of the wall. He would speak, and she would listen, occasionally nodding or shaking her head but never uttering a word. The night before, he'd even managed to get a very small smile from the girl. It was awkward and almost painful-looking, like her facial muscles weren't quite used to pulling in such a manner, but it was definitely a smile.

As they rode along, a line of snow-capped peaks began jutting up beyond the horizon. They were called the Mountains of the Moon because they were the largest mountain range in the world in both how far they spanned and how high they rose. The least of them, Mount Serenity, soared to roughly eight thousand meters while the biggest, Tranquility Peak, seemed to pierce the very sky and reach for its namesake twelve thousand meters above Remnant. The Mountains were one of the major obstructions to overland trade between Vacuo and Vale, which meant that there were several different ways to get from one side to the other.

Orville, however, was privy to a secret passage that cut his travel time from the forests and plains on the eastern side to the desert that protected Vacuo almost in half. Even Gin wasn't aware of the existence of such a path, and Gin was a bonafide expert on the Grimmlands. The only problem was that the people who guarded the path, or rather a certain individual among those people.

The reason he was so leery of the Mountains of the Moon was because of a girl named Violet. At one point in his life, he had believed her to be 'The One' that everyone talked about. Then, of course, he learned that she was actually guiding his thoughts and fostering his feelings for her using her Semblance. It was at this point that he wrote off any romantic relationship as a waste of time, effort, and most importantly emotion. He had better things to spend his life on.

At the moment, he was lecturing the others on the absolute need for stealth at this juncture in their journey.

"So, as far as I can tell, the people who live near the Fire Opal are descendants of ancient rebels who were exiled into the Grimmlands by King Mekhmet of Alexandria about five hundred years ago," he said. He rolled his eyes fondly at Nora, who raised her hand like they were in class. "Yes, Blitz?"

"What's Alexandria?"

"That's the precursor culture to modern Vacuo," Weiss piped up. "They're the ones who built the Celestial Pyramids." Nora made an 'oooh' of understanding, and waved her hand imperiously for Orville to proceed.

"Thanks, Blitz," he chuckled. "These guys have been living inside Tranquility Peak ever since, so they know the mountains like the back of their hands."

"Wait, inside?" Ren interjected blankly. "What do you mean?"

"Tranquility Peak is the remains of a dead volcano," Orville explained. "The inside is pretty much hollow. The exiles found a lava tube that led into the empty caldera, and they decided that it was the best place for them, concealed within the bowels of the earth and hidden from all their enemies, including the creatures of Grimm."

"Wow," Sun hummed, intrigued. "And I always though history was lame."

Orville snorted. "History's all we've got left, Broku. Our world is called Remnant for a reason. There are things out here in the Grimmlands that would blow the minds of the entire population if they came to light. I once came across something that had to be some sort of space ship."

Yang laughed at that. "Pull the other one, Corndog. Everyone knows aliens aren't real."

"I never said anything about aliens, Sunshine," he retorted. "There was writing on it, and I recognized a few of the symbols as ones I've seen on other ruins all over Vytal and Menagerie."

"I didn't know you believed in the theory that we once had space-faring technology," Jaune said thoughtfully. My dad's the same way, only a little more...ah, shall we say _intrigued_ by the notion."

"Well, at least I know what to get you for Yuletide," Weiss scoffed at Orville. "A big roll of tin foil so you can craft your own hats."

He shook his head with a smile. "To you, yours, Edelweiss," he quoted, "and to me, mine. The truth is out there, and someone's bound to find it someday." Shaking his head, he returned to the topic at hand. "Anyways, I only own a half-share of the rights to the Fire Opal, since I and one of these mountain folks found it. He's the only other one who knows where it is, but he and I aren't exactly on the greatest terms right now, so that's why we need to be wary."

They had begun to climb the foothills by that point, and the elk began to show their worth as they picked their way up the slopes. However, as the group climbed higher, they were stopped by a loud, animalistic shriek from behind and below.

Orville tugged on his reins and Yakul spun in perfect sync with his rider. Roughly half a mile out, he felt a large displacement of earth, but his vision was concealed by the evergreen forest. Then, a massive blast of light and sound erupted from the area he'd been focused on and suddenly there was a great clearing in the trees.

Ruby was the first to react, shifting Crescent Rose into its rifle configuration, and peered through the optics. Orville quickly followed, bringing his field glasses up to his eyes.

He scanned the area with a feeling of dread welling up in his gut while Ruby reported to the others. "There's a big group of people out there," she said. "All older than we are, all armed. As far as I can tell, all human, too. Wait, there's a bunch more people about half a mile back. Only a few of them are armed, though. The rest..."

She frowned, and Orville followed her line of sight to the cluster and promptly broke his binoculars.

Pyrrha, startled, grabbed his hands and swept the shards of glass and carbon fiber from them. "Orville, what's wrong?"

"Slavers," he snarled, unable to keep his lip from curling in disgust and rage. "Ren, give me your eyes." Thankfully, his male teammate handed over his own binoculars without question, and Orville returned to his sweep, ignoring the sentient chattel for the moment in order to figure out what the others were doing blowing up half the forest.

A flash of motion to the west of the man-made clearing caught his attention, and after a bit of focus, he found that it was his night-time guest, running as fast as her legs would carry her. Just behind her were half a dozen large men, armed with various weapons.

"Fuck," he growled, tossing Ren his binoculars back and pointed to the base 'camp'. You guys figure out a way to free those people. I need to get down there, _now_!"

And before the others could even protest, he'd dug his heels into Yakul, pointing him on an intercept course with the feral girl. He and Yakul tore through the trees, dodging reaching branches and gnarled roots alike as they rode, until they almost trampled the little girl when she darted out almost right underneath them.

Yakul reared up on his hind legs to avoid her, and she dive-rolled away from the elk's flailing hooves. Orville slid off Yakul's saddle when he went vertical and landed in a deep stance facing the direction the girl had just raced from, drawing Obsidian and Selenite from their joined scabbards.

"Get on," he ordered, pointing to the elk's back even as he lifted a set of steps for the girl. When she hesitated, he snapped, "Up, now!" She obeyed, skipping up the steps and leaping onto Yakul. "Take her back to the others," he then said, shifting his attention to his mount's gray eyes.

Yakul shifted and bounded off back the way they'd come, and just in time. The moment Yakul was out of sight, seven men arrived at the spot, wielding hunting rifles and machetes.

The sight of Orville brought them up short, but the leader quickly regained his wits and brandished his blade. "Well, look what we've got here," he sneered. "A little lost boy to add to our collection. Why don't you come back to our camp with us, young man. We'll get you all settled."

Orville didn't respond verbally. Instead, he shifted his left foot and the ground beneath the men shifted with it, sending them off-balance. Before they even knew what to make of him, the Dynamic Duo danced. Aura-enhanced steel ripped through the slavers' meager guard like piss through snow, and Dust rounds blew holes where holes ought not to be on humans.

By the time he was done, all that remained of the slavers were cooling bodies and splashes of blood on the forest floor.

He closed his eyes and sought out anymore nearby, then headed off in the direction of the other large group nearby, using Geomancy to push him faster. Orville stopped several meters away from them and decided to take stock of the situation.

There were roughly a dozen slavers, but this group seemed much more seasoned than the first seven. It seemed they'd sent those bastards out to get them some much-needed slave-catching experience. Just the thought made his grip around his blades tighten angrily. Then he smiled a vicious smile; they might be more worldly, but they still didn't know he was here, or what he could do.

Orville gathered his energy and focused on the earth beneath the slavers, flooding the ground with his will. Then he brought his hands up in a clawed cage, and the dirt rose up at his command and encircled the entire group. Just as the first panicked shout issued from the cage, Orville clenched his fists, and the earthen globe obeyed, imploding into hundreds of shards of compressed stone and gory bits of flesh.

He released his hold on the bloody earth matter, and the remains of eleven men dropped to the forest floor with a sickeningly wet _plop_. With a scowl, Orville pushed down and buried the corpses three feet down.

All that was left were the few who had stayed with the people they'd captured. He threw himself forward and headed to the final group just as he felt his friends arrived on the outskirts of the 'camp' and formed up to devise a plan.

"—Weiss, can you do that?" Ruby said, then looked up when he dismounted his rock board. "Orville, what happened? And is that _blood_ on your shirt?"

"Don't worry, it's not mine," he assured them, then looked up at the girl who was still on Yakul's back. In the light of day, it was clear to Orville just how malnourished she was; the poor thing was practically nothing but skin and bones, and her green eyes were wide with fear. "Little one, do you know who those men were chasing you?"

Her gaze darted out into the forest, then to the 'camp'. "They...killed...my...family," she managed to choke out. "Took...caravan people...away." Her voice was raspy and soft, and her words came in bits and pieces, like she hadn't used either in quite a while.

"Do you know the people they have now?" he asked, pointing to the huddle of miserable folk who were being held at gun-point in chains. The girl shook her head after a moment.

"None," she whispered sadly. "All...I knew...are gone."

Orville nodded. "Alright, then," he said gravely. "I can't give you back your family or your friends, but we can still give the people who took them from you what they deserve."

A brutal snarl issued from her throat. "Kill...that one...first," the girl said, pointing. Orville followed her finger and froze.

The man she had indicated was massive, easily seven feet tall and muscled like an ancient Mistrali god. His brown hair was swept back from his face, revealing one jet-black eye glittering with malice while the other hid behind a black eyepatch. He wore a tan duster over a rough-spun gray tunic and brown chaps atop blue jeans.

"What's up?" Yang asked, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"That bastard," he murmured. "I _know_ him."

"He...killed...my papa," the feral girl hissed. "Made...mama... _scream_." Furious tears leaked from her eyes, and she fixed Orville with a glare. "Make... _him_...scream."

"You've got it, little one," he replied.

"What are we going to do?" Jaune asked. "We can't make a move until we can be sure their captives are safe. We were going to have Weiss craft an ice wall around them, but now that you're here..."

"I'll make sure they're safe," Orville said. "You all just keep any of them from scurrying off."

* * *

Orville's scroll _beeped_ three times, signalling that everyone was in place. Having been prepared for several minutes already, Orville made his move, lifting and shaping and compressing all in the space of a few seconds until a large, two-foot thick dome of rock had been placed over the captives. The slavers struck at the stone ineffectually before the large man, their leader, shouted at them to stop lest they damage their weapons.

With that done, Orville stepped forward and spoke. "Bruno Sullivan!"

All the slavers turned to him, weapons aimed and at the ready. Bruno quirked an eyebrow and smirked.

"Do I know you from somewhere little fella?" he asked condescendingly, though a hint of recognition gleamed in his eye.

"Probably not," Orville admitted, "but I know you. Ever hear of a little place called Littleroot? You know, that town you blew a hole in and enslaved when they tried fleeing the Grimm?"

"Was that your village, then?" Bruno demanded. "I'd apologize, but it's not really my style. It was nothing personal, I assure you. That's just business for you." He shrugged his massive shoulders as though he'd done nothing more terrible than spill his drink on Orville's lap.

"No, it wasn't my village," Orville denied. "I was there, though, when you pulled your shit. I tried to lead them to safety, I got caught by you and spent weeks in your tender care. And when my guardian freed me you killed all the others out of sheer fucking _spite_."

"Your guardian..." hummed the massive man. He snapped his fingers, a malicious sneer forming on his face. "Ah, I remember now! You're that little dog runt who was with Gin Solo! You're the one who cost him his legs!" He let out a booming chortle that shook Orville to his bones as memories rose unbidden to his mind.

Orville felt his lips peel back as his teeth were bared unconsciously. "I owe you much, Sullivan. It's about time I pay my debt."

And then he moved, rushing forward as he unleashed all four barrels of the Dynamic Duo and forced Bruno to dodge left, where a massive spike of stone speared upward. Bruno, however, simply stomped down and shattered the construct, reaching behind him and drawing a massive claymore, mecha-shifting as he unsheathed it so he held a huge assault rifle with an under-barrel bayonet/grenade launcher combination.

"I haven't had a challenge in a while," Bruno quipped almost conversationally. "Try not to disappoint, runt."

He pulled the trigger and unleashed a spray of bullets that Orville avoided by sinking into the ground. Surfacing several feet behind his opponent, Orville shifted forward. Obsidian and Selenite bit deep into Sullivan's back, and the huge man roared in agonized anger, spinning much too quickly for someone his size. He grasped Orville, his hand wrapping all the way around Orville's arm and slammed him into the dirt.

Orville, however, used his Semblance to once more fall into the ground like it was liquid and pulled Bruno down with him. The man's strength was too much, though, and Bruno yanked him back up out of the dirt, tossing him high into the air and bringing his assault rifle to bear.

Before he could aim properly and let loose again, Orville's hand lashed out, and a dozen Tiger's Eye darts embedded themselves in Bruno's chest. As the Dust began taking effect, Orville used the dirt on his boots to create a platform in mid-air and bounced off it, dodging the belated hail of bullets.

Landing lightly, Orville created more Tiger's Eye projectiles and began tossing them in an uninterrupted stream, aiming some at Bruno and others at his lackeys, who had been standing around watching the spectacle in amusement. Fortunately for him, most of these slavers weren't as sturdy as Bruno, and went down after only one or two darts.

Unfortunately, Bruno was _ludicrously_ resilient. There were at least twenty shards of Tiger's Eye lodged in his body, and he was only slightly affected. With a bellow which could have made an Ursa Major quail, Bruno charged forward, his rifle shifting back into a claymore as he ran, and brought it down upon Orville.

Thinking quickly, Orville clapped his palms together in front of him, and two massive stone hands sprouted from the ground on either side and did the same just above him, catching the blade before it could cleave his head open. The moment of distraction was enough for Bruno to swing his leg back and drive his massive foot straight into Orville's chest, effectively punting him several dozen yards away and into the dome he'd created.

That single blow had been enough to shatter his defensive Aura momentarily, and the abrupt halt had damaged him nearly as much as the initial strike. Perhaps some sort of Aura-piercing Semblance, or maybe just one that granted insane raw strength?

Orville struggled to his feet, feeling pain lance up his side every time he drew breath. Pulling more Dust from his belt, Orville split it up into dozens of needles and set them orbiting his form in a defensive ring.

"Not very impressive, runt," Bruno chuckled darkly as he advanced. "Maybe I'll grind your legs down like I did the famous Gin Solo's? That way you can get matching wheelchairs, assuming the old fart's still alive, that is..."

"Come and do it, then, you sick bastard," Orville spat, tossing a pair of Fire Opal darts that were batted out of the air by the claymore, exploding a few feet away. Using the momentum of his parry, Bruno swung his sword around once more, and this time Orville was too slow to dodge or block.

A scream ripped its way out of his throat as he felt the icy steel cut through his belly, tracing a line of fire just above his hip bones. It wasn't deep enough to be fatal, but it certainly could be given time. Many of his Dust darts fell from the air as his Aura shifted from actively utilizing his Semblance to keeping his blood in his body with a dull brown glow.

"Is that it, runt?" Bruno growled as he stood over Orville. "You come and challenge _me_ in _my_ domain and this is the best you can muster?" He scoffed, then casually plunged the his claymore into Orville's thigh and leaned on the pommel, driving the point straight through the meat and into the ground below.

Orville clenched his teeth, biting his cheek to stifle the scream of anguish that roiled up from his gut. "You _wish_ this was your domain, you slave-driving piece of shit," he grunted. "You're nothing but a coward who preys on the weak."

"Well, you definitely count as weak," Bruno retorted, batting the handle of his blade back and forth, causing Orville even more suffering. "You're the one who tried to seal the hole in Littleroot that time, weren't you?" The mountain of a man shook his head in amusement. "You were too weak to save those people, and you're too weak to save these ones." He tapped on the dome behind Orville. "It'll take only a minute for me to break through this, and when I do, I think I'll punish them for your transgressions. Maybe take a finger from each one and make a necklace from the knuckle bones?" He splayed his hand against the stone and casually pushed against it. Cracks began creeping across the surface instantly, and Orville saw his chance.

Orville shoved the ground beneath him, and the claymore shot upward causing him to hiss in pain. The rounded pommel struck Bruno square in the nose, and a gush of blood sprayed from his nostrils even as a stone spike surged upward and crashed into the slaver's gut.

To Orville's dismay, the compressed and hardened rock was unable to pierce Bruno's Aura, and it merely sent him stumbling back. Orville used the dome at his back to struggle to his feet, but his leg was pretty much shot for the moment, and his chest still hurt something fierce. While Bruno was still dazed from the one-two punch of his sword and the earth, Orville quickly sent two beeps through his scroll. He hoped his friends made it in time.

Before he could return his attention to the fight, Bruno's enormous hand slammed into him like a ton of bricks and held him up against the dome by his neck so their eyes were level. Where previously, Bruno's expressions were more amused, now they held nothing but rancor and resentment and a promise of pain.

"You're going to regret that," Bruno said. "But not for long." He drew a dagger from his belt with a pure white blade that looked more crystalline than metallic, and with no warning plunged it into Orville's chest, just above his left clavicle. Agony raced through Orville's body like wildfire as Bruno viciously twisted the knife deeper into his flesh, and he was unable to keep the tortured scream from ripping free into the air.

With an evil smile and a terrible gleam in his eye, Bruno withdrew the blade and prepared for another strike. But it never came.

A screech of defiance and wrath drew both of their attention upward, and none other than the granola thief sprinted over the dome's curve at speeds that astounded Orville, launching herself forward directly at Bruno.

The giant was too shocked at such a tiny thing attacking him that he didn't raise a defense in time to block the furious assault on his face from tooth and nail and fist and foot. But his senses returned quickly enough and grabbed the girl by the scruff of her worn cloak, tossing her away with all the concern of someone wiping cockroach guts from their shoe.

The girl impacted the ground with a loud crack, and rolled to a stop where she remained unmoving.

"NO!" Casting about with his Semblance, Geomancy registered all the darts he'd dropped when Bruno had struck him, and grasped them all with his will.

Outrage fueled Orville's throw, and a shard of Sunstone flew right past Bruno's loose guard and straight into his sole remaining eye before expending its payload in a blinding flash of light. Other needles struck true as well; Fire Opal and Pyrite hit near one another on his calf and promptly removed his leg up to the knee, while Sunstone and Tiger's Eye collided just before they hit and created a wash of acid that splashed against his left arm to eat away at the cloth of his duster and the skin beneath.

The slaver let loose a tortured howl as he clutched at his face; blood gushed from the wound like an open faucet, leaking down his face in a gruesome facsimile of tears.

Struggling to force the earth do do his bidding, Orville gritted his teeth and _shoved_. With a belated yelp, Bruno found himself buried up to his neck in the ground, which was constricting tightly around his entire body.

Orville tried to smile, but the toll his wounds had taken caused it to come out as more of a grimace. "Looks like you just got taken down by a weakling, Sully."

Bruno was in far too much pain to respond, and Orville ignored him, using his Semblance to drag himself over to the girl. He was relieved to see that she was still breathing, even if each inhale was labored. With gentle hands, he rolled her over so she was on her back, and the jostling seemed to rouse her slightly.

"Hey, little one," Orville murmured. "Hell of a distraction you gave me."

Her lips quirked into that lopsided grin. "Won't...let him take...anyone else," she coughed. Her eyelids fluttered, and Orville shook her slightly.

"Come on, stay awake, little one," he urged. "You'll be just fine." He wanted to use Alexandrite, but it was a stop-gap measure at best, and only worked on external injuries besides.

"Ginni," she whispered, and he stopped to look askance. "My name...is Ginni." Then her eyes closed completely.

Orville's jaw clenched, and he felt for a pulse that was rapidly losing its strength. "No, no, no," he chanted frantically, trying to think of anything he could do to keep this girl alive.

Suddenly it clicked in his mind. _Aura unlock!_

When Gin had unlocked his Aura many years ago, he'd told Orville that anyone could unlock anyone else's Aura if they really wanted to. But it was an incredibly intimate thing, and the person who coaxed one's Aura to the surface would always be connected no matter what.

Shaking away those thoughts, Orville concentrated what little Aura he had left after the fight into his hands, gently laying one against Ginni's temple and the other above her heart.

With a shaky breath, Orville began. "Ephemeral is the independence achieved in life," he started, feeling for that spark of light, of _vitality_. "Defiantly, we become beacons of hope to illuminate the path to true liberty." _There it is_ , he thought, cupping the little flame with his own spirit. "Unfettered from despair and relinquished by death, I unleash your soul and by my heart, free thee."

A brilliant golden luminescence burst forth, enveloping Ginni's form, and Orville almost wept in relief when he felt her heartbeat grow more powerful with each contraction beneath his palm.

Once he was certain of Ginni's continued survival, Orville began to register his own laundry list of injuries was beginning to catch up to him. Wetness on his belly alerted him to the fact that his Aura was no longer keeping his blood inside his body, possibly due to the fact that he'd used up his last drops of willpower to save Ginni.

"Aw, shit," he managed to say before he suddenly found himself looking up at the sky. He realized that Bruno's pained roars had died down to mere whimpers. Turning his head slightly, he found the slaver's head had lolled off to the side, and he was sucking up air in little bursts, unable to take a full breath thanks to the stone restricting his movement.

"How's it feel to be powerless, Sullivan?" Orville asked. "How does your own medicine taste?"

"When I get free, you'll wish you had never even heard my name, you little bastard," wheezed the slaver.

"What makes you think you'll ever get out of there?" Orville replied with an agonized chuckle. "If you're lucky, a Grimm'll crush your skull and be done with it, but I think you're luck's run out. By nightfall, there'll be plenty of scavengers and predators ready to eat you alive, and you won't be able to do a damn thing about it."

Orville watched with morbid satisfaction as his words sunk in. Bruno's face went from spitting mad to horrified within a minute.

"Who the hell are you, kid?" The words were spoken with an almost awe-filled tone.

"Me?" Orville laughed, then coughed as his battered chest protested loudly. Darkness crept into the edges of his vision, and he closed his eyes. "I'm nobody."

The last thing Orville was able to discern before unconsciousness claimed him were half a dozen voices shouting his name.

* * *

 **After-Action Report:** So there we have it. Lots of world-building concerning the wilderness of the setting. I was looking through the RWBY wiki for research purposes and I realized that I have _very_ outdated info. I've been calling the continent that Vacuo and Vale are located on Vytal for the entire story, never realizing that the name Vytal was changed so that it refers to the island where the peace accords between the Kingdoms were drawn up. I ain't changing it, because there's no other name for the continent. The Atlas continent is called Mantle, while Mistral and Menagerie are just Mistral and Menagerie, but the Vale/Vacuo continent can't be Vacuale or Valecuo. That'd be stupid. So there.

Again, lots and lots of references and shout-outs. I know there are only about fourteen people who actually follow this story, but if you'd be so kind, I'd like to see if anyone can name them all. Or any of them. Just review, please.

This chapter also has one of the first fully combat-oriented scenes in the story, so I'd like to ask how I did. It's been quite a while, and I'm sure I've fucked _something_ up in there. Constructive criticism only helps me grow as a writer, and I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Another thing I touched on lightly is Team ORNP's combo attacks. For the record, I've got the names all set up and everything. So here's a list of them, just because:

Ren + Orville = Shake 'n Bake  
Nora + Ren = Flower Power (no change there)  
Orville + Nora = Ground Pound  
Pyrrha + Ren = Chop Shop  
Pyrrha + Orville = Helter Skelter  
Nora + Pyrrha = Hot Shot  
Orville + Ren + Pyrrha +Nora = Dream Team

Also, Ground Pound, Helter Skelter, and Shake 'n Bake are the official ship names. Just because. I've got combo and ship names for the others, too. If you want those, then you can PM me and I'll get that list to you pronto.

Also, I've put up a poll on my profile that lets you, the reader, give your feedback as to who, if anyone, you'd like to see Orville paired with. I'm at the point where romance will begin showing up (those damn horny teenagers and their hormones!), and I'd like to know what your preferences are. So once you're done here, vote!I know I've forgotten something, so if you have questions, comments, etc., please review or PM me so I can attempt to clarify whatever's on your mind.

Oh, and I think I've dropped enough hints about which fictional character Orville is based on for you all to start guessing. Any thoughts? And no, his allusions don't follow the same trend that the original JNPR had of being based of famous cross-dressers like Thor, Achilles, and Mulan. But there is a connection between Orville's character and Pyrrha's character, so keep that in mind.

Also once again a HUMONGOUS thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed this little story. You're the best!


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